Vampire FBI
by Niffally
Summary: Three vampire FBI agents find themselves involved in incomprehensible mysteries of death, disappearances and cold cases. Why is there a mysterious trail of killings scattered around the Olympic Peninsula? And how does this lead them to the Cullens?
1. Cold Case

_A/N: This story is written by two people, and we have an editor too, so that's why the style of writing might change. _

_Disclaimer: We do not own Twilight, or the characters, and the last names Devereux and Lafreniere are courtesy of the Vampire Beach series. _

_Eleanor P.O.V_

'Good Morning,' said Mr Carter gruffly, slamming down a heavy case folder onto the table.

'Morning,' May, Lillian and I chorused. We were seated around a circular table, hands resting on the polished wood. 'Coffee anyone?' called the secretary, Andrea, poking her head into the room.

'No, thank you,' May and I said together.

'I'd like a cup of blood,' Lillian said under her breath, making us erupt in silent giggles. Mr Carter looked at us quizzically before switching on his laptop and projecting the image onto a large screen. 'We'll just wait for Ramona and Kieran,' he said, taking a long swig of his coffee. I tapped impatiently on the table while Lillian and May stared contently at the projected image; it was a mossy green forest with trees that had toppled over and messy undergrowth.

The door burst open and Ramona entered through the door loudly, making a horrible scraping sound; pulled out her chair and set her coffee mug on the table. 'Sorry I'm late,' she said breathlessly, shrugging off her jacket. Ramona pulled a lock of her glossy dark brown hair behind her ear and took out a notepad, pen poised just on top of the paper as she surveyed Mr Carter with wide chocolate brown eyes. The three of us gave her a small smile in greeting, although being near humans no longer bothered us.

I had sustained myself on a diet of animal blood for almost three hundred and fifty eight years, in my lifetime I had gone through numerous careers, but this one was by far my favourite. Lillian, May and I were highly commended FBI agents, dedicated to preserve human life. We took our jobs very seriously and so far; nobody had noticed that we weren't quite human.

Of course the three of us were inhumanely beautiful, had the same golden irises, and dark shadows beneath our eyes but we remained inconspicuous. The only difficult part was feigning sleep on overnight field missions, but we had become well accustomed to that now.

'Sorry,' said Kieran timidly as he made his way to a chair, giving us all a small wave in greeting. I couldn't help but notice that May was watching him and gave him a very wide smile when he looked her way. 'Alright,' said Mr Carter rubbing his hands together, 'this case,' he began 'has proved unsolvable to the police of Forks, and Washington State in general.' He said, pressing a button on the laptop making the picture change. 'So they have handed it down to us,' he said simply. 'Towns affected include Forks, and Port Angeles,' he said whilst Ramona scribbled on the notepad furiously. 'And other small parts of the Olympic Peninsula.' The picture on the screen was now of blood smeared amongst leaves and scrub.

'And what exactly is happening there, Mr. Carter?' Kieran asked uncertainly.

'I'm getting to it; basically there have been a total of seventeen homicides in the past six months scattered around the Peninsula. No leads have been found yet. Our only evidence is the bodies, they are left with shattered bones and puncture marks, completely drained of blood,' he said frowning. 'The bodies have been found in numerous places, mostly in forests or alleyways,' he said, clicking another button. The next picture was a gruesome one; it was a human body in the forest, eyes rolled backwards and mouth lolling open, the six of us visibly cringed. 'Nothing has been left behind of the killers, no weapons, hair or footprints for that matter,' he said walking around the room. 'Local police suspect gang activity, and this is also suspicious as a trail of killings like these had occurred previously in 2007 in Seattle, this is why we want to get to the bottom of this,' he concluded sliding folders to us around the table. I picked mine up and leafed through, it had my name and details on the first page, and the rest was followed by the case in detailed description, long lists of names jumped out at me from the second page.

'Miss Devereux, Rose and Lafreniere,' he said speaking to Lillian, May and I, ' you are one of our most trusted and efficient field agents,' he announced, 'so we are stationing you three in Forks, were most of the... disturbances are,' he said. 'You will notice on the last page is the location of your accommodation, and a map of the town, we are also providing you with an off-road vehicle to patrol the forests.' I turned to the last page and there was indeed a street name, phone number and details of the 'off-road vehicle'.

'Ramona and Kieran I am stationing you two in Port Angeles, also on your last page is the place of your accommodation and also a map of the town,' he said, clicking off the projector.

'Do _we _get an off-road vehicle?' Ramona piped up. The four of us chuckled behind our folders while Mr. Carter shook his head.

'But Mr. Carter, what about these other parts of the Olympic Peninsula?' questioned Kieran who was leafing through his folder. 'Reinforcements will be sent there later as those areas are not a top priority,' he said, draining the last of his coffee. 'When are we leaving?' asked Lillian.

'I want you at Forks by Monday, six o'clock,' he said folding up his laptop. 'And we of course are sending you with a large arsenal of weapons, so meet here before you leave for Washington State to collect them,' he concluded, Ramona's face lighting up at the word 'weapons'.

'Dismissed,' said Mr. Carter, striding out of the room. We picked up our things and walked out of the door, heading into the employees lounge. 'Forks,' said Lillian. 'That's that town with rain almost every day isn't it?' she questioned.

'I think so, it'll be a nice change from New York, won't have to keep covering ourselves with scarves and gloves if you know what I mean,' I replied, imaging not having to take extra pieces of clothing with us to shield us from the sun.

'I guess, but we'd have to bring warmer clothes,' she said, 'to keep up appearances,' May whispered and grinned.

'Too right you are, May. I think a spot of shopping is in order,' I grinned.

The streets of New York City were full of shops; spending a few hours there we loaded the shopping bags into our cars, Lillian drove away in her red and white Mini Cooper, May in her white Audi and me in my silver Mercedes Coupe. The tinted windows were an advantage as sun was beginning to make its way out of the clouds and shone threateningly upon me. May, Lillian and I lived on opposite sides of New York City, which on some occasions proved difficult. We had lived together for several decades before we figured it was becoming much too conspicuous. Not many people our age would live in a high rise apartment, with three expensive cars. It caused much gossip in the early 1900's when there were three unmarried young women living together, in those times women were married much younger and you were considered a social outcast if you weren't.

I pulled into the car park of my apartment, took the keys out of the ignition, and stepped into the elevator. Punching the number for my level, it stopped when I was halfway up to be joined by a middle aged woman. She sidled her way into the far corner and got off at the next level.

When I entered my apartment I placed my keys on the hook and proceeded onto the couch, flicking on the television, settling myself in for a long night.


	2. History

_May POV  
_  
I entered my apartment and threw the keys onto the kitchen bench. They glided slowly and hit the side of the glass bowl filled up with fake fruit. Behind the bowl, leaning against the wall, was a scrapbook that I found while searching through my cupboard. The scrapbook cover was fitted with various patchwork (common back in those days, Eleanor was very fond of them), and the corners were fitted with metal (which Lillian acquired when we were in France), and the title was sewn upon by me. This book is just over fifty years old.

I picked it up and opened it to the first page. The separation of the pages caused them to crinkle due to their age- small amounts of microscopic dust floated away. On the first page was a picture of Eleanor, Lillian and I. On the side was my recognisable handwriting- unchanged for over one hundred years- and it said: "May, Eleanor and Lillian, 23rd July, 1977- Middleton House" I smiled at our unchanged appearance. Anyone would of thought we took this picture yesterday, but the drawback of dull sepia made it look like was from it's the 1970's. I ran my finger over Eleanor's waist length hair; it never seemed to bother her. I chuckled at the dresses we wore that were in fashion back then. _I think I still have that dress_, I thought to myself as I observed my smiling figure. Lillian positioned herself between Eleanor and I, standing in an elegant posture- well she was a sixteen year old vampire then, not far from her time…

The next few pages varied of different photos of us. The quality of the pictures slowly improved with every flip of a page. The last few pages contained various information about Eleanor, Lillian and I.

The first of those, were about Eleanor. There was a photo of her, taken a few years back. She had sandy blonde hair that reached up to her waist. She was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans that was folded at the bottom slightly. Her sandy hair complimented her eyes nicely, and in this photo she flashed her perfect white teeth- which made her shirt look a tone nearer to grey.

Eleanor Aurelie Lafreniere was born on December the 16th, 1651. She was the daughter of a rich lord in France. When Ella was twenty years old, she attended a ball with her fiancé. They were intending to get married in a few months. While she was dancing, an extremely handsome man whisked her away from the ball. Abandoning her fiancé, and fully aware of the consequences which awaited her actions, Eleanor went with this man thinking it was true love. He was about to attack her, however, he decided that an immortal life was far better a punishment.

On the following page, was a picture of Lillian, smiling at the camera like there was no trouble in the world. Her eyes glinted with the flash of the camera, and her vintage dress that reached to her knees swayed with her movement.

Lillian Nora Devereux was born on the 5th of May, 1941, in the little town of Lourdes in France. She ran away from home when she was sixteen, refusing to attend debutante balls pressed upon her by her parents. She was from a rich family, with high standards.

Lillian had an older sister, named Evangeline who found her husband at a debutante ball. The man was decided upon her by her parents, who, like the Devereux's, came from a rich family. Lily watched as her only sister was forced to marry a man whom she never loved, and was trapped under his care. Lillian never wanted a life like that, so when her parents told her it was time, they had a huge argument and in her haste, she ran away forever.

From then onwards, Lillian lived alone in a small abandoned cottage in the woods. She lived happily there for two years, until a beautiful young woman knocked on the door. Mesmerised by her beauty, Lillian welcomed her inside. Her name was Eleanor. Lillian and Eleanor became immediate friends.

Two years passed, and nothing could ruin their friendship, until one day, Eleanor was sleeping over at Lillian's cottage. Lily was preparing dinner, when she cut herself ever so slightly, a tiny trickle of blood dripped down her finger and onto the table. Eleanor - who was talking beside her at the time- froze, and ran off from the house. Lillian stood, perplexed at Eleanor's sudden dash.

The next day Ella returned.  
"Sorry my about my sudden scurry," she told Lillian. "But it was for a good reason. And what I do next is for a good reason too. I don't want to lose a friend like you, because of what I am."

Eleanor sunk her teeth and injected the venom that changed Lillian's life forever.

The next page was about me. The photograph of me was recently taken. The thing that made me stand out was not my appearance, but an odd necklace my adopted mother Lucy gave to me before I left to France. It was a rosary woven into a choker. It contrasted heavily with the green cardigan and black jeans I wore in the photo. My wavy dark brown hair reached my shoulders and my eyes were the same studding gold as Lily and Ella's. This photo was probably taken straight after a hunting trip. That day was my 20th birthday (technically 160th). I invited Kieran and Ramona, along with Lillian and Eleanor. Mr Carter couldn't make it; we all agreed he was a party pooper.

I was born on the 1st May, 1849, to an average English family. My full name is May Audrey Rose. We lived in Scarborough, England. My family did well there because population was increasing rapidly, and my father had a good business. In 1862, I took a walk around Scarborough along the beaches and cliffs with a boy that was rather fond of me. He asked me to return his feelings, but I politely said no. In his frustration, he pushed me off the cliff we were standing above, and I fell into the crashing waves. Lucy saved me that day. The boy ran away, regretting what he just did, and Lucy jumped into the sea after me. I was on the verge of death, so she turned me into a vampire. The town of Scarborough believed I was dead, (the boy admitted pushing me off the cliff) and Lucy welcomed me to her coven where I met Craig, her mate; and their adopted son, Demetri.

The family and I moved to Finland in 1952. One day while out hunting alone in the forest where my old coven lived, I met Eleanor. I talked to her all day in the woods, about my life, and hers, finding out we were both vegetarians. Eleanor told me she was heading to France, to visit her old home. We both promised we will meet again one day, and we went out separate ways. I went to France on my own in 1964, to meet our promises, and met Lillian and Eleanor in Paris. Delighted, we talked to each other as old friends, and from that day onwards, I was with them.

I closed the scrapbook and placed it gently on the table. I grabbed my phone and dialled a number.  
"I recognise this number…May!"  
I smiled at Lucy's voice.  
"Hey Lucy, how are you in Hobart?"

*


	3. Powers and Relics

_Eleanor POV_

The sky was gradually becoming lighter as dawn approached; the city cloaked in darkness beneath me was much quieter than it was during the day. Cars still sped along the motorways, sometimes I heard music coming from them and when they passed and then it would fade away. My apartment was quiet too, an advantage of living by yourself. I preferred peace and serenity in the place I dwelled, sometimes difficult to come by.

I looked around at my surroundings; the apartment was themed on hues of black and white. The apartment was furnished and decorated with the help of May and Lillian who contributed to the arrangement in their own ways. The lounge room walls were painted a soft white with floors of glossy blonde wood; in the middle was a white and black rug with geometrical patterns, on top rested a shiny curved white coffee table with a vase filled with a vibrant array of flowers. The whole north wall was comprised of glass, of which in front stood a large, flat screened television. Opposite the television was the long sofa, still white. To the west was the unused kitchen and down the hallways were the bathrooms and bedrooms.

I had three rooms, one was the unslept in bedroom, the other was the study and the third was home to anything I couldn't find a place for. That room was my favourite, three hundred and fifty eight years worth of collected objects resided in there; it surprised me often to what I found. I made my way down the short hallway and into the room, one wall had a shelf with photo albums, childhood toys that I had come back for after I was changed, several family heirlooms and three centuries worth of birthday presents. At random, I picked up a box that was wrapped in red ribbons, I lifted the lid and nestled in the silky fabric was a ring. I picked it up and held it to the light, examining it.

It was made of pure silver, and a large turquoise gem sat in the centre which was held in place by diamonds and small flecks of blue topaz. It was beautiful, that I couldn't deny. The gem alone was about the width of my finger; Father always loved the best for his family. I had gotten this ring as a present for my eighteenth birthday, when I turned it around, embedded in the silver was the Lafrenière family crest. The background was comprised of flowery vines with blossoming flowers on the tops, a head piece of a knights armor complete with an extravagant feather was positioned in the center, and behind all the vines was a wolf, which were common in that area of France. I watched the diamonds throw off brilliant sparkles that reflected around the room, smiling I slipped the ring back onto my finger, in its rightful place.

I was reminded of May's necklace; it held sentimental value just like my ring did. It was a rosary woven onto a choker that her adopted mother, Lucy had given her. I had never met Lucy, her mate Craig or their adopted son, Demetri but I had heard much about them from May's stories.

Lillian also had a piece of jewelry in which to remember her family it was a wonderful cuff bracelet made entirely of silver. Vines and ivy leaves overlapped each other, embedded elegantly onto the silver. In the middle were more vines directing my gaze to the direction of large, navy blue gem that was encrusted in diamonds. She wore it everywhere, failing to ever take it off.

Turning away from my ring that triggered so many memories I looked to the wall where two portraits caught my eye. One was an oil painting of myself, aged eighteen, through blurred human memories I indistinctly remembered the painter, a small old man who had forced me to pose for several hours while he created the masterpiece. In the painting my hair flowed over my shoulders and I had plastered a forced smile over my lips. I wore an extravagant bell bottomed dress, of a warm, light brown colour. The bodice of the dress had white frills and a lighter brown bow in the middle. The sleeves were cuffed with more frilly white lace, travelling down the dress was the corset like middle, then the dress split into three parts, each embroidered with flowers and patterns of overlapping vines. It was beautiful in its own way, fitting perfectly into 17th century France, the time when I had lived. Nonetheless, the portrait was magnificent capturing myself in an essence when I was young, engaged to a wealthy Duke's son, unaware of the fate that loomed before me.

The second portrait was that of my family and I, once again captured in oil paint; depicting my mother, father and little sister, Guinevere. This too was a masterpiece and I looked much happier in this one than I had in the one by myself.

With a sigh I retreated to my bedroom to pack for our mission, unable to put it off any longer. Throwing in the essentials and a few extra things I would need and dragged the two bulging suitcases to the lounge room. Pleased with my effort, I stood in front of the window, watching the sun making its way across the horizon, lighting the city with a golden glow. The sky had brilliant streaks of pink in it and there was still a layer of dark blue sky was just resting above the horizon, indicating that the time must be around four or five in the morning.

I turned to the small fireplace I had, eager to light it. With a smile, facing my palm towards the ceiling, tensing and curling my fingers; a fireball hovered just above my palm. I threw it into the fire place, instantly setting the wood on fire, casting an orange glow over the floor. It was interesting, this gift I had. I controlled the element of fire, I was able to start fires using only my palms, and if I had the intention, could kill a vampire with it. Lillian and May had teased that this was surely due to my short temper and hotheadedness that I had brought from my human life had caused this, but they had their gifts too. Lillian had the power of telekinesis, moving objects with her mind. In the past few years she had become quite good at it, practicing whenever we were secluded from human eyes. She was now able to move heavy objects, the other day she had lifted a car in a parking lot, but had put it down after mine and May's frantic yells.

May had a gift that was quite opposite to mine – while I could burn things, she was able to freeze them. She was gifted with the power of controlling the element, water. She is able to move any liquid in whichever form she wanted, along with being able to freeze and unfreeze liquids at will.

With a longing sigh I waved my hand at the fire, effectively extinguishing it.

I went back into my room, pulling on the plain work uniform. A navy blue t-shirt with the word "FBI" emblazoned on the right side, a pair of jeans, tossing the ugly recommended beige pants to the side and laced up my leather boots. Picking up my work jacket I swung it over my arm, swept my waist length hair into a messy ponytail and pocketed my keys and mobile phone.

With ease I grabbed the suitcases by their handles and carried them down the stairs, I threw them into the trunk of the car and slammed it more forcefully than I had needed to.

With a small laugh I climbed into the seat and dialled Lillian's number, she answered on the first ring.

'Hello?'

'Hey Lilly, have you picked up our equipment?'

'Yeah, it's all in my car, I've just started on the road to the airport,' she said, I could hear the background noise of traffic.

'I'm just about to leave, have you heard from May?'

'Yes, she's just left her place too.'

'Alright, I'll see you soon then,'

'Bye,' she said and hung up the phone. I put the keys into the ignition and pulled out of the apartment parking lot.


	4. Forks

_A/N: Sorry for the delay of this chapter. Forgot it hadn't been posted, I apologise to those loyal fans. I don't think we have loyal fans, but anyway. Here is chapter four._

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_May POV  
_I quickly scanned the bustling crowd at JFK Airport and found the faces I was looking for. I rolled my eyes at their luggage bags. _Two large luggage bags each_.  
"Hello May," Eleanor greeted me with a smile. She obviously overlooked my reaction to her bags. The piercing glare from Lillian made me chuckle.  
"What?" I said innocently.  
"Why were you rolling your eyes at us?" Lillian demanded, and stamped her foot.  
"You guys just look like you're going around the world ten times," I said sarcastically, and took out my ticket from my handbag.  
"Well I think I've done that already," Eleanor joked and picked up her bags. "C'mon, let's check in shall we?"

We twisted our way through the busy airport to the check-in counter, and waited in the long que with our luggage.  
"What if your bags are over the limit?" I questioned them both.  
"We'll pay up," Eleanor said.  
I gave them the best look of disbelief my acting skills could handle, and pulled my luggage as we slowly got nearer the check-in counter.

"To Seattle," Eleanor said casually, and gestured Lillian and me to hand the woman working our tickets. We loaded our luggage (Eleanor and Lillian's bags weighed just under the limit to my dismay), and we headed off to gate 15.

*

The flight to Seattle took three and a half hours. We checked out of the airport and walked towards the parking lot. The Jeep stood out from the parking lot- it was black and shiny.  
"So much for: '_Remember the Jeep is in space 2C_!'" I said sarcastically, and pulled out the keys from my handbag. I unlocked the massive jeep, and threw my luggage in the back. I climbed into the driver's side, which was followed by four loud thuds of luggage landing in the Jeep. Eleanor sat in the passenger's seat, while Lillian sat in the back. The decision of who was going to drive was decided over a furious battle of scissors paper rock in the plane.  
"I demand a re-match," Lillian mumbled, shoving the luggage aside with her feet.  
"Too bad, it was best out of three anyway," I grinned. I inserted the key into the ignition, and exited the full car park.

"Can't we go any faster?" Lillian moaned as we got onto the freeway.  
"It's not the Jeep's fault," I said and sighed.

We were going 50 miles an hour- which was right on the speed limit on the freeway.  
It was one o'clock in the afternoon- the sun rays escaped through gaps in the dark clouds. The tinted windows did us good from the sunlight- rain started to fall on the windshield, and the rays of sunlight slowly were engulfed by the angry storm clouds.

"We could hire another car when we get to Forks…" Eleanor jumped up, her eyes sparkling with excitement.  
"Yeah!" Lillian cried, snapping out of her revulsion of the speed. "We could try out the new Aston Martin One-77"  
"Hey! The Porsche 911 Turbo is so much better…" Eleanor retorted.  
I laughed at their argument, which interrupted their dispute completely, and they both gave me piercing glares that I was accustomed to.  
"Clearly, the new 2009 Lexus IS, _is _the best," I said, and we flustered on about what we assumed, was the finest car to hire.

*

We stepped outside of the Jeep and observed our "new home". The exterior of the two-story house was skirted with white wood- freshly painted by the previous owner to improve the appearance of his house. The porch was polished; with a rusted bench placed in front of the large French window- these objects made the house seem to be on the line between modern and vintage. A large maple tree swayed in the gentle breeze, allowing the leaves to fall on the roof of the house.  
"This is why I like this job," I grinned.  
"It's time to get undercover eh?" Lillian exclaimed, and rushed off to the door with all of the bags.  
"You're lucky no one's looking, missy!" Eleanor hissed and snatched off two bags Lillian.  
"Who has the keys?" Lillian murmured; her excitement evaporated in an instant.  
"I do," Eleanor said, and unlocked the door.  
A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, with luxurious furniture placed underneath. There were two stairs leading upstairs, creating a perfect arch that made the room look a lot more significant.  
"C'est magnifique!" Eleanor said in French. "This is only the workings of_ Monsieur Carter_!"  
"If this is the living room…" I said quietly. We looked at each other for a moment, and rushed up the stairs in two seconds flat.

"I call this room!" I heard Eleanor yell. _Damn, she got the master bedroom_. I rushed to the room beside hers, and called out: "This is mine!"  
"Well I call this room!" Lillian yelled from across the hall.  
I looked at my room from the door and smiled. It wasn't that bad. The room was fabulously decorated in shades of pale gold, with some silver and white. Across the room was a sliding door with a balcony. Semi-see-through curtains hung from the frame of the door. The four-poster bed was draped in a similar material to the curtains, and the pillows were neatly placed in a designer style.  
"Too bad it's not going to be used," Eleanor said casually from a door in my room I hadn't noticed.  
"When did you get in here?" I blurted out.  
"Our bathroom is connected," Eleanor said, leaning on the door frame, pretending to admire her fingernails.  
"Oh…"  
"And we're not gonna use them either!" Lillian entered my room, rather dramatically and slumped on the bed. Eleanor and I laughed. "Mr Carter went through a lot of trouble for us…"  
"Ramona and Kieran would have done well here," I sighed. _Kieran. _I smiled feverishly and giggled. "Someone said the name!" Lillian giggled on the bed and got up. "Let's look at all the other rooms!"

Eleanor's room was in various tones of black and white, I wasn't really surprised she chose this room. She also had a balcony, which was connected to mine, with the same white curtains. The feature wall had a wonderful wallpaper of black swirls with a white background; a bed was in front with luxurious queen bed, with a matching black and white quilt. The bedside table was white, with silver handles, which gave the room a special modern touch.  
"Absolutely _'bee-you'_," I said, attempting to say French.  
"_Beau_!" Lillian and Eleanor sighed together.

We walked towards a room across from Eleanor's. It had mint-green walls, with the occasional dash of white and silver. A bed was situated in the middle, with white sheets. The rug on the floor was white, decorated with perfect green leaves. A white drawer was placed diligently on the foot of the bed, with black metal handles. A large mirror was tucked away in one corner, hiding a small walk in cupboard.  
"If Ramona comes, she can have this room," Lillian said while turning the lights on and off.

Lillian's room was orange. Eleanor and I both stared at her comprehensively. She beamed at us.  
"My room is opposite to yours El," Lillian said, as she did a small pirouette across the room.  
"Why, may I ask?" Eleanor asked uncertainly.  
"How to put it…" Lillian pretended to be in deep though. "Mine is awesome."  
"_Vous gosse_! You brat!" Eleanor yelled and chased around the room. Lillian did a small leap over her bed and ran through the door of her room, closely followed by Eleanor.  
"_Vous allez détacher la maison_! You're gonna tear the house apart!" I heard Lillian laugh feverishly downstairs, and then, I believe some china crashed onto the floor in the kitchen.  
A chest of drawers with a fake Victorian style caught my eye. It was a chestnut colour, and a beautiful crystal lamp was placed on top, begging to be turned on. I sighed and unplugged the lamp. It was touch sensitive. I picked it up and saw a door opposite to the drawers. I opened it with one hand and peered inside. Was this a cupboard? I let the door open wider, and it showed me a walk in cupboard. It was huge.  
"Holy shit!" I yelled, and in an instant, Eleanor and Lillian came at my side.  
"Oh that's one sweet lookin' cupboard!" Lillian said trying to put on an American accent.  
"You want to swap rooms Lillian?" Eleanor asked.  
"Um…no" Lillian said. She turned to me. "Why are you holding _my_ lamp?"  
"It is touch-sensitive," I said and gave it to her.

She stared at it intently, her eyes darting between the lamp and Eleanor. Lillian let out a stunning grin. I was observing the great walk in cupboard, until I heard: "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"  
I peered around the corner to see Lillian giggling silently; her eyes following Eleanor running around the room with the lamp bashing furiously on Eleanor's head.  
"Enough!" Eleanor said and the lamp disintegrated into a pile of ash on the floor.  
"Uh-oh," Lillian whispered, but Eleanor already got a hold of Lillian, and pulled her arms behind her back.  
"Don't make me singe your hair off," Eleanor whispered into Lillian's ear, Eleanor put her hand in front of Lillian's terrified eyes and a ball of fire was glowing in Eleanor's palm. I let out a sigh, and thrust my hand at Lillian and Eleanor's direction, and they were immediately drenched in water. Water dripped down their hair and clothes, creating a small puddle in Lillian's room.  
"I guess I win," I sighed dramatically, and walked out of the room with my nose in the air. I heard the water slush beneath their feet as they were going to attack me; I spun around and drenched them again. "This is why you never win water fights_." _

They glared at me from the doorway, with their hands holding bits of their clothes, and letting the water run down to the floor. I smiled, and the water evaporated immediately, into the palm of my hand. I let it follow my index finger as a waved it around me.  
"We better get changed out of those FBI uniforms, we're undercover now." I ignored Lillian and Eleanor's stares of revulsion.  
"Yeah, let's get changed shall we?" Eleanor said and stomped off to her "not awesome room".  
"I'll meet you downstairs, and observe the rest of this property which hasn't already been damaged," I told Lillian (who looked like she was going to crash the chandelier onto my head), and I walked with my back to my room, facing Lillian, and changed.

I chose some skinny jeans and a pale yellow singlet and ran downstairs, followed by Eleanor and Lillian. Ella and Lily cleaned up the broken china from the kitchen ("It's not like we were going to _use_ them," Eleanor said) and found our stored weapons under the stairs.

There was a piano towards the back of the house, and a dining table near by. The entire back wall of the house consisted of two bi-fold doors, which allowed us to enter the back porch and yard.  
_Ding dong._  
Our door bell trilled through the house.  
"I'll go get it," I said, and proceeded towards the front door. I looked at the little screen that showed us who was waiting outside the door. It was a man and woman, who looked like they were in their mid-thirties. The man was rather short, and was balding. He had a sloppy grin, and was linking arms with the woman beside him. The woman was average height, with stunning orange hair that she let down below her shoulders. She was wearing a pearl necklace, and a vintage, pink old-style dress.  
"Yes?" I asked.  
"We would like to welcome you to forks," the woman said competently, and shoved the basket of fruit and other goodies to the camera.  
"Okay," I said and opened the door.  
"Well, welcome to forks!" the man grinned and shook my hand. He flinched slightly at my cold touch, but ignored it.  
"Um, thank you!" I said.  
"Ma' names James," James said and put his arms around the woman's shoulders. "And this is Meg. We're your new neighbours!"  
"So, well, er, welcome to Forks!" Meg smiled and thrust the basket into my arms.  
"Yo who is it sister?" Lillian cried out from behind the house. I rolled my eyes.  
"I'm guessing that's your sister?" James asked.  
"Uh, yeah," I said. "Well, thanks for coming to welcome us here."  
"Oh no problems," Meg said and smiled. "But we came to warn you about strange things that have been happening…" She continued rather reluctantly. "There has been some strange killings behind our houses, y'know the forest?"  
"Yeah," I answered and leaned against the door frame.  
"And no one has caught who's done it yet," James said in a whisper.  
I tried to put on a terrified face.  
"Oh don't be scared…"  
"May," I continued her sentence.  
"May," Meg confirmed. "Don't go in the forest, you and your sister's okay? Well we must be off, have fun getting ready eh?" They left together towards their house next-door.

I closed the door and walked towards the bin in the kitchen and threw the basket in the bin.  
"Who was that?" Lillian and Eleanor said together.  
"New neighbours warning us about the killings," I said and slumped down onto the couch with them.  
"Oof," Lillian said. "That's our job remember, find the killer!"  
"Yup," Eleanor said and turned on the television, and started to flick through the channels at record speed.  
"We never failed at a case, and never will," I said and smiled at them. _We're gonna finish this so fast, you won't know what hit you Forks_, I thought to myself, but it wasn't the case.


	5. The Two Trails

_Eleanor POV_

'Is this bullet proof vest _completely_ necessary?' Lillian huffed, while she was putting on the vest over her t-shirt. We were getting ready to go on our first patrol of the forest, since that was where the bodies had been found; we had to wear the same gear humans would. Bullet proof vest ( though no bullet could kill us) a gun belt ( though we could defend ourselves much more efficiently without one) and several types of protective equipment, including lace-up boots dubbed "hideous" by the three of us.

'Yes, Lillian, it is. We've got to blend in, remember?' answered May who was strapping her belt across her waist. 'Are we all ready?' she asked, throwing her backpack across her shoulder.

'Just a second,' I said while cramming a few more items into the backpack, one of them being a camera.  
'Alright, I'm done,' I said, flipping my hair over my shoulder. 'How far are we going with the Jeep?' I asked as we walked our way to the garage.

'Not too far in,' replied May, 'until the track stops, I don't think we should go any further than that, we haven't been in these forests before so we don't know the landscape.  
Can I see that map, Elle?'

I retrieved the map of the forest from my backpack and set it out on the bonnet,  
'which way are we headed, then?' I asked as May took the lid off a pen and began to draw lines on the map.

'We'll enter through here...' she began, marking a small "x" on the map. 'And the track stops about here-'she drew yet another "x", 'so we'll leave the car there and travel up north-east I think, then we'll go in the opposite direction for a while too, and we'll leave it at that for today.'  
May began marking the map with more lines. 'We probably won't finish until around eight or nine; if we want to go at human pace, so we should probably take our torches.'

'Alright,' I said, and folded the map back up and put it back into my backpack. 'Who's driving?'  
'Me!' yelled May from the driver's seat who already had the key in the ignition.  
'I call shotgun, then!' I said and slid into the seat.  
'Fine then, I'll just sit in the back like some sort of_ child_,' grumbled Lillian who threw her backpack onto the seat and climbed in reluctantly.

Lillian complained the whole drive about being stuck in the back seat, causing May to snap at her irritably,  
I played with the switch on the torch for most of the drive, turning the lights on and off and by the time we had reached the forest May was in a very disgruntled mood.  
'Do you have to keep switching that thing on and off?' May snapped, after I had created disco lights with the torch.  
'Yes,' I said innocently.  
'Well, don't. Put it back in your bag.'  
'But-'  
'Eleanor, put the torch in the bag,' she said as if she was speaking to somebody mentally slow.  
'Fine,' I grumbled while Lillian laughed from the back seat.

We continued on in silence for another five minutes until Lillian began on the topic of her not being able to drive. 'Fine, Lillian. Next time you drive. I'm turning on the radio now so I can't hear you.'  
May reached for the knob and turned up the volume; the plan would not have backfired if Lillian and I had not recognised the song and sang along, with the incorrect lyrics, just to annoy May.

'You're singing it all wrong!' she exclaimed and turned up the volume higher, only for Lillian and I to raise our voices. 'Alright, I seriously need to concentrate now. It's all rocky here.'

At that, the radio was turned off and Lillian and I lapsed back into silence, as May manoeuvred the Jeep expertly around the rocks and undergrowth.

'Just a little further, then we're getting out of the car,' she said as the trees became thicker and branches whipped the windshield.

'How much further?' I asked as we all bounced on the seats, heavy rain began to escape the protection on the trees, lashing violently against the windows.

'Alright, this is it,' May proclaimed and hopped out of the car.  
I took the map back out of the car and examined it, tracing along the lines marked as tracks with my finger.  
'We're going this way,' I announced, and began to walk in the north easterly direction May had decided upon earlier.

'This weather isn't the best for patrolling,' Lillian commented.  
'I know,' I said, clicking on my torch and shining it on the ground around us. May and Lillian did the same, lighting the path in front of us.

There was a sudden deep _crunch _sound from behind us; I immediately whipped around, flames of fire already leaving my palm, ready to be used as a weapon if needed.

'Relax, Elle. I just stepped on a twig. You get scared easily don't you?' Lillian sighed. I let out a breath of relief, extinguishing the flames that were emitting from my hand.  
'Some FBI agent,' I heard May whisper to Lillian, both breaking out into quietened laughter.

'Say anymore and I'll burn both your eyebrows off,' I retorted, waving my palm in front of their faces threateningly, where a fireball now hovered inches above my palm.

The three of us lapsed back into silence, walking in a single file line, May now leading the way, pushing braches and stepping over rocks confidently.

We all stopped walking at the same time; a familiar scent reached me and my companions, the unmistakable scent of a vampire.  
'Do you smell that?' I whispered, thought it was clear they could. Lillian walked slowly in the opposite direction, her eyes darting suspiciously around her.  
'There are two trails, one leads this way, and the other leads up towards where the trees get thinner, I think.'

Lillian took off for the direction of the opposite scent, in a sudden burst of vampire speed. She came back within ten seconds, a now frightened expression on her face. She shook her head, 'the trail doesn't go far, it disappears once you reach the lake.'

'We should follow this one, then,' May suggested.  
Lillian and I nodded and we set off slowly, 'there must have been a lot of them, the two scents are different. I could smell at least four vampires when I went up that way,' she said, jerking her thumb to the west, 'but the one here is different. Here, I think there's much more than four.'  
We all agreed silently.

'You don't think vampires are the reason behind all the attacks?' I asked fearfully, the scent of the multiple vampires getting stronger.

'I really hope it isn't.' May answered who was still leading the way.  
'What if it comes to a fight?' Lillian whispered. But nobody answered her as a very large, white house came into view. It was three stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned. The windows were very large and revealing; with trees compensating and forming a cover for the house.

'Smells like it's been vacant for a while,' commented Lillian who was peering through the windows. 'Should we go in?'

'Yeah,' I said, I reached the door and kicked it open, the door was ripped from its hinges and fell to the floor.  
'Smooth,' commented Lillian sarcastically.

The only furniture left in the house were basic ones- a long sofa, a kitchen table and the chairs that surrounded it. Pictures that may have hung on the walls before were now replaced with a single hook and discoloured walls.  
When we entered the house we were faced with a new smell, mingled with the scent of vampires was the undeniable scent of human, along with the faintest tinge of human blood.

'Upstairs,' I concluded, the three of us dashed up the stairs and into the bathroom. I pushed open the door slowly; the scent of human was the strongest here- that was certain. I walked towards the bathtub and noticed blood streaked on the inside of the tub, where a dead corpse was thrown carelessly inside.

The limbs were splayed at odd angles; tangled brown hair covered the face of the victim, two unmistakable puncture marks on the neck of its victim. The three of us turned to look at each other, our eyes wide. We were certain now, that this was the work of a vampire.


	6. The Cold Ones

**Vampire FBI- Chapter 6**

_May __ POV_

It was unmistakeable. This was the work of an unskilled vampire. The scent of vampire mingled with the scent of human blood. I crinkled my nose; there was something else here.

"Can you smell that?" I asked Lillian and Eleanor. They nodded - perplexed at this peculiar occurrence.

"It's not human, nor is it vampire. It doesn't smell as pleasing as human blood, but it's still delicious – in a non-food way." Eleanor ran out of the bathroom at vampire speed, following the feint trail, she was back within an instant. "It's very feint, but I know surely, that it's a living thing. And there was something else, it was almost like...wet dog?" added Elle with a disgusted expression.

"Wet dog?" asked Lillian. Eleanor simply nodded, whilst Lily went to follow the same trail. Less than a second had passed before she was back in the same position as before. "Elle's right, it's disgusting. What would a dog be doing in a mansion, a mansion full of vampires?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly, "it could be anything, let's not jump to conclusions just yet. We have a murder to solve and we need to focus on our job, too many humans have died already." All three of use looked towards the young adolescent draped across the bloodied bathtub.

"It was a vampire that killed her." said Eleanor.

"Most likely." I leaned forward and observed the two puncture marks located on the side of her neck, definitely a vampire. There were two more pairs of the circular holes, both on the insides of the victim's wrists. "Poor girl could have had three vampires feeding on her."

Lillian appeared to be absolutely horrified. "How could someone do such a thing? Do they have not have any decency? Any respect?"

"Apparently not. Come on, let's call the police, they need to be notified." With that, Eleanor left the room. Lily spared one last glace back towards the victim before pursuing after Elle, I quickly followed suit after her.

***

_Lillian POV_

"...okay, thank you." Eleanor snapped her phone shut, our encounter in the stunning white mansion recounted to the police of Forks and to the FBI headquarters in New York. "Mr Carter is sending in reinforcements to help the Fork's police analyse the murder scene. They'll be here early tomorrow morning, Ramona and Kieran will be here-"the sound of tyres turning off the highway notified us of their presence "-momentarily."

May let out a tentative smile at the sound of Kieran's name. I had a feeling that something more was going on, more than she wanted to be let known. Elle must have noticed too, she gave me a small sideward glance which was filled with the same curiosity that plagued my mind.

We waited patiently for Ramona and Kieran to come down the long, narrow drive which would eventually lead them to the mansion (May and I followed it while Elle was talking to Mr Carter). The sudden sound of a tyre falling in a pothole accompanied by the word _"SHIT!" _caused the three of use erupt in laughter.

"Hey guys!" announced Ramona when she finally arrived, the ragged scratches on the front bumper of the car were visible even to human eyes.

"Hello everyone, hi May" Kieran shyly added, the faintest amount of blush started to appear on his cheeks. To Eleanor and May, this natural human ability was no more tempting to them than food was. However, I was newer to this life, and the sight of the uprising blood made the burning in my throat that extra bit uncomfortable. Of course, human blood has never touched my lips, nor has it to Elle and May; we are all dedicated to preserving human life, that's why we decided on this particular career (not to mention how incredibly cool it is when your knocking down doors).

"So what shall we expect when we get in there?" asked Ramona, bringing me back to reality.

I looked back to my 'notes' which I had written while waiting for our comrades to join us. The notes were simply for show, recalling events in perfect detail wouldn't be very ideal for the mental stability of our human friends, there were already too many odd things about the three of us. "Hmm, well, the body is in a bathtub, located in the ensuite of the main bedroom on the first story." I stated while flicking through the notepad.

"Victim resembles that of a young adolescent female; brunette, blues eyes, pale complexion, medium build," added May.

"She appears to have puncture marks on the insides of both her wrists and a couple on her neck." Eleanor concluded.

"Alright, we'll go have a look now, thanks." Ramona had roughly scribbled our observations into her own personal notebook. She walked on into house, camera in hand. Kieran followed on behind her after nodding towards us in thanks.

"So...what now?" Elle asked.

"Home I guess." Answered May, "we better go the way we came though, we can't leave the Jeep in the forest!"

"Let's go then!" said Elle.

"Race ya' there!" I yelled back towards Elle and May while I sped off, taking the only head start I'd get.

Naturally, I came last in the race, even though May and Eleanor were hardly trying, the possibility of vampires being responsible for the infamous massacres must have been faltering their moods, along with the horrid sight of the discarded body earlier today.

***

The next day, we went back to the big white mansion to await the arrival of the forensic investigators coming from New York. Ramona and Kieran were already at the house by the time we got there, they had set up a _'do not cross'_ line across the boundary of the huge mansion. Not long after are arrival, the obvious sound of tyres alerted May, Eleanor and I of the officers soon-to-be appearance.

"Morning Miss Rose, Miss Devereux, Miss Lafreniere." Mr Carter nodded towards us respectively when he arrived –accompanied by tens of detectives, investigators', the local police of Forks, and news reporters from numerous television and newspaper companies (the reporters were kept behind the _do not cross _line). "Excellent work on finding the body, hopefully this will be the last."

"Yes, hopefully." Elle agreed uneasily.

"Not to worry Eleanor, this time we have a suspect in the murders. You see this house," he gestured to the huge white mansion beside us, "it belongs to a man under the name of Dr Cullen." Mr Carter noticed our now curious expressions and continued on with his information. "Dr Cullen and his family moved on from this rainy town not too long ago, the house however, still remains in their possession, thus making them the prime suspects." He concluded his brief summary.

Mr Carter then pulled out a file from the suitcase he was carrying and handed it to us. "Here's some more background information on the Cullen's, hopefully you can help locate where they are."

"You mean you don't know where they are?" I asked, appalled.

"No-one knows where they are, they just left one day, never heard from again, the house was all they left behind." Answered Mr Carter, clearly distressed at this uncertainty. "But, if they are responsible for the killings, then they're probably somewhere in the immediate area. The fact they left basic furniture in the house also leads us to believe that they were intending to come back, if they haven't already."

A man from the squad sent in from New York suddenly appeared from the house calling for Mr Carter. "Well ladies, I better go in, take what you can from that." He said pointing to the document in May's hands.

"One more thing Mr Carter, what are the reporters doing here?" I asked before he left.

"Someone tipped them off." He stated, eyeing the reporters, clearly irritated by their presence. Mr Carter started to head towards the door before he turned around and gave us one final glance. "Oh and ladies, I must ask that you don't speak to them until we have finished analysis, bloody parasites, the lot of them."

"Of course Mr Carter." The three of us said in unison. Mr Carter smiled and continued back to the house.

We stayed at the Cullen's property the entire day, occasionally giving statements to other officers, but mostly keeping the reporters from entering the house and getting in the way of procedure. At around midday, Ramona came and told us that the victim had been identified. The Victim was apparently that of kidnapped teenager Trisha Maxwell. Her family was called to the crime scene for a final verification before the body was moved to the Seattle FBI headquarters for a post mortem examination.

The sound of Trisha's mother's cry when she entered the bathroom could be heard even by the human's circling the outer perimeter of the house.

By late afternoon, all the necessary evidence was gathered and the body moved from the house. All of the forensic investigators left with the evidence. The remaining officers gave statements to the ever-present reporters and Mr Carter held a small press conference for them on the Cullen's front lawn. Soon enough the magnificent mansion became abandoned once again.

***

When we got home, we spent the entire night researching what we could on the Cullen's. The father, Dr Cullen, was world renowned for his medical abilities, his wife Mrs Cullen, was involved in many building restorations and architectural projects. Their five adopted children all had perfect 4.0s and were well mannered with not one single slip-up at school. The youngest child, Edward Cullen, married straight out of high school. He and his long time girlfriend Bella Swan had wed in July of 2008.

"World renowned doctor? Building restorations? Perfect 4.0s?" May stated. "These people hardly seem like murderers, like vampires"

"Maybe that's their cover story?" I suggested. "I mean it is possible. The doctor that everyone went to, that everyone trusted, was a vampire. Who would have known that he put a few extra patients to sleep, permanently?"

"But if he is a vampire, and if he does drink human blood, how would he be able to resist the bloodlust at the hospital? And he lived in Forks for so long, why would the bodies start appearing _after_ he and the family left?" Eleanor questioned.

"I don't know." I answered. "I honestly don't know."

"It doesn't make sense!" May shouted out of frustration. She pushed the pile of notes Mr Carter gave us and left the room.

A photograph of an inhumanly beautiful family emerged from between two papers. I picked up the picture and observed the seven smiling figures standing gracefully together. Their ghostly skin, combined with the bruise-like shadows beneath pure black eyes, easily identified them as vampires. Along with their perfectly angular features, this family was way above the average norm.

Eleanor glanced over my shoulder, and looked over at the picture. "Beautiful aren't they?" I commented.

"Mhmm, who are they?" Elle asked.

"Our serial killers."

"The Cullen's?" Elle gasped, she leaned closer and observed the picture even more. "Seven of them? That is an extremely large coven, and extremely deadly. How do they live in harmony with each other? We're a coven of three and we barley survive one and other." Elle eyed me as she said the last part of her little analysis.

"What?" I asked innocently, even though I knew exactly what she was talking about. Oh how I love my nifty little gift.

"Nothing." She said, sitting back down on the couch, awaiting May's return. I ordered the displaced paper's back into a straightened pile and placed the photo on top.

May came back in the later hours of the morning. Over the past few days, we'd been so preoccupied with the case, that we neglected our vampiric needs. Our eye's had changed from the safe, warm liquid gold, to an almost black, and the burn in the back of my throat was becoming harder to ignore with each passing hour.

"You know what we need?" I asked

"What do we need Lillian? Eleanor questioned back with the slightest hint of sarcasm, they tended do think that my idea's were a tad bit pointless.

"I think that we should go on a hunting trip. It's been too long; surely you must be feeling the burn too. Besides, if we find any more...bodies-" I hesitated on the last word, hoping that no more would turn up and that the Cullen family would leave, for good. "-how will we be able to resist?"

"You're right," May spoke for the first time since she got back, Elle and I both turned our heads to look at her. "Let's go now."

My eyes widened at their acceptance of my fabulous idea, and the idea of a hunting trip. Hopefully I'll get a mountain lion on this trip, or perhaps a grizzly bear, feeding on the deer for the past month had made the idea of having them again rather unappetising.

Eleanor and I were halfway through the door before May stopped us. "Shouldn't we change our clothes first?"

I looked down at my current attire. I was still wearing the bullet proof vest, the gun belt, and those hideous lace up boots. We all ran up the stairs and into our own individual rooms at vampire speed. I was out of the repugnant uniform before anyone could so much as blink, and into a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt with the fundamentals of awesomeness printed on it. Finally, I tied up the laces on my converse chucks and ran back down stairs to wait for my sisters.

Apparently they beat me there, again. "Took your time, didn't you?" teased Eleanor, May chuckled along with her. It was the first time in days that I heard the sound of laughter; it was like music to my ears.

"Hey, that was record timing for me." I retorted back in my defence, causing them to laugh even more. "Come on, enough teasing on my behalf, I'm thirsty." The two of them nodded in agreement and began to file out of the front door, leaving me to do all the locking up, I snickered and ran after them.

***

The forests surrounding Forks are very different to those that we usually hunt in. There was a natural abundance of animals which ranged from simple smaller animals to much larger and feistier animals, like my favourite, the irritable grizzly. The plantations in the forests were all toned in various shades of green, and the smell of fresh rain wafted under the woodland canopy.

We found a small herd of elk a few miles into the bushland. The pulse of the sweet blood trickling down my throat immediately dampened the ever-growing fire. Eleanor and May had both captured their second elk each while I was still my one (I was going slow -keeping my stomach ready for the more serious animals).

Just as I removed the empty carcass from beneath my feat, the delicious scent of mountain lion blew in from the west. I immediately followed the scent, my sudden movement caused May to look up from her kill.

"Where are you going?" She questioned while I disappeared further into the wilderness.

"To Narnia!" I yelled back at her, I could hear two sets of chuckling from fading behind me. I would have continued on my quest to find the lion if I hadn't had been interrupted by another scent that stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Eleanor. May." I whispered, fear slightly trembled my words. The sound of the rushing wind and May and Eleanor's familiar scent helped me loosen my rigged posture ever so slightly. Within a second they were beside me, Elle was so panicked that she wasn't even breathing

"Lily what's wrong?" she asked.

"Elle, breathe." May commanded. Although it was a rhetorical statement, Elle took the advice seriously, and with good purpose too.

"Ohhh," the sound of the light bulb going off in Eleanor's head was almost audible, "Oh, this isn't good."

"Mmm" I agreed half-heartedly. This wasn't good at all. That scent, so sweet and so familiar, yet deadly at the same time. The same scent from the Cullen house, was fresh in the forests of Forks.


	7. Revelation

_Eleanor POV_

"Oh no..." I murmured. "Should we follow it?" Identical fear was displayed on all three of our faces.  
"I don't know..." May murmured again, eyes darting suspiciously around the forest. "They must have smelt our scent in their home already; this trail wasn't from so long ago…"

"They're probably tracking us!" Lillian's voice was high and anxious, her eyes looking at our surroundings. "What will they do?"  
I stood there stunned at what we had to face. During our job as an FBI, we have never handled a case to do with our kind. Us three against seven of them? We were completely outnumbered. What if it came to a fight? I shuddered.

I looked at my friends, who were incompetent with fighting; Lillian leant against a tree, with her hands on her face. May had her back towards us both, obviously frightened at the possible outcome.  
I clenched my fists. I should be more confident than these two… I'm the oldest… I should reassure them.

"If it comes to a fight-"began Lillian, "we won't have much of a chance, I mean, there was seven of them."  
"It doesn't have to come to a fight, we'll just confront them and... and tell them to leave!" May responded, though she didn't sound like she believed it herself.  
"Should we go then?" I asked; taking in their wide and fearful eyes. "If they're back at their home then they've probably smelt us by now. Our scent is still fresh in the forest, so they could track us here. Best to go find them before they find us," I concluded.

"I agree," May said solemnly.  
"Yeah, me too," seconded Lillian.  
"...should we go then?" asked May, the three of us were still rooted to the spot.

"Yes," I said, and lead the way through the forest, following the scent. Now that we were getting closer it was easier to determine there were not seven here, but four. They must have split up, then. Were they perhaps planning to ambush us? I continued to run through the forest, Lillian and May trailing closely behind.

The trip did not take very long, we ran through the forest whilst the branches whipped at our bodies, the three of us primarily concentrated on what the scent was leading us to.

The scent was becoming much more prominent as the trees began to clear, we could see them now, they were standing in front of their house, examining the police tape that had not yet been removed, there were loose papers scatted around and a newspaper with the front page dedicated to the Cullens was lying on the grass near the edge of the woods.

When we entered their vicinity they turned at once to face us. In front of the quartet was a man with blond hair and woman with billowing caramel coloured hair at his side. Behind them was a tall male with honey blonde hair, innumerable scars criss-crossed his face and body and beside him a short and thin female with spiky black hair.

They had finished examining us as we had finished examining them for the tall blonde male moved in front of the group protectively; the other blonde male left the woman and stepped towards us, smiling.

These were our serial killers, then? Neither of them looked particularly guilty, especially the smiling blonde male. All of their eyes were pitch black, complicating the situation.

I moved to step in front of Lillian and May protectively, perceiving that out of the three I would be the most experienced.  
"Hello, this is my family Esme, Alice and Jasper. I'm Carlisle Cullen," he said, extending his hand warmly.  
The three of us glared at his hand before he dropped it awkwardly, "is there a problem...?" he frowned; Lillian, May and I were now all in defensive positions

"Yes, there is in fact a problem," I began, I could feel my hands tingling, "why don't you take a look around the house? Why do you think there's police tape surrounding it?!" I shouted, both my hands were on fire now; a fireball hovered above each palm.

Carlisle warily took a tentative step backwards as he eyed my arms, "we thought you would know," he replied calmly, still eyeing my hands. "We've been in Alaska for the past few years and we come home to find our house a crime scene," Carlisle mused.

"You don't know?" I replied with suppressed anger, Lillian and May were now edging forwards. I snatched the discarded newspaper off the floor, the front page showing the Cullen's story, and threw it childishly into Carlisle's shocked face. "Read that," I said.

Carlisle along with his companions leaned into the newspaper, reading the front page intently. Meanwhile, Lillian, May and I stood in a tight knit line, May was already pulling at the lake behind the house, preparing water to distract them, Lillian was lifting various objects with her mind and I had the fireballs that hovered just above my palm ready, flames licking the tips of my fingers, the anger I could not channel into the fireballs.

"This wasn't us," spoke Jasper while Carlisle looked at the newspaper in disbelief, the others nodded in agreement, the one named Esme looked close to tears.

"If it wasn't _you,_" began Lillian sarcastically, who sounded more agitated than I, "please explain why the three of us, _personally_ found a dead body in your bathroom!" she yelled at them, Esme cautiously stepped forward.

"Please, you must believe us. I see your gold eyes; you are drinkers of animal blood, like us. We don't hunt humans, it is why we are together, we had even sworn on a treaty with the werewolves – "

"Werewolves?" I asked despite myself, interrupting Esme.  
"Yes, the werewolves," Carlisle was speaking again now, "or the shape-shifters, rather. They live up in the Indian reservation, La Push. When we returned to Forks, they wanted to attack us, so we swore on a treaty that they would remain peaceful towards us as long as we didn't attack a human. Things, however, have changed now between us..."

"That explains the dog smell," whispered May. Though I did not like to admit, my suspicions of the Cullens were slowly easing, the anger I felt before was slowly evaporating and I could feel the flames on my skin withdrawing.

"Perhaps we should go discuss this inside?" suggested Carlisle. We all nodded and followed Carlisle into the home, I noticed that the door I had kicked down the other night was still on the floor, Esme eyed it curiously. The seven us took a seat on opposite ends of the white sofa when my phone started vibrating in my pocket.

"Sorry," I murmured to the Cullens, pressing the phone to my ear.  
"Lafreniere?" questioned the voice I recognised as Mr Carter's.  
"Yes, it's me. What can I do for you, Mr Carter?"  
"I needed to update you, we've just received the post mortem report of Trisha Maxwell."  
"Did you find anything?" I asked; my voice devoid of curiosity.  
"Not much more than you three had assessed on the scene, broken bones, puncture marks on the neck. But we've confirmed the time of death for October 23rd, around noon."

"Oh – " I wasn't sure how to respond to this new information, "excellent," I winced at my response, it sounded as though I was approving the death of a person. Lillian and May sniggered beside me; I swatted them both on the arm and turned back to the conversation.

"Well, yes," replied Mr Carter, I could almost hear the frown in his voice.  
"Anything else?"  
"Yes, I need you three to do another patrol of the forest, today preferably. We're thinking of relocating Thorley and Hart closer to Forks, the areas they're stationed in aren't being targeted anymore, so we could use more people down at Forks. That's all, If you find anything – "  
"We'll call right away,"  
Mr Carter hung up the phone abruptly and I placed the phone back into my pocket to be greeted with the curious eyes of the Cullens.

"You heard everything?" I asked May and Lillian.  
They both nodded, "why does he want us to do another patrol? I doubt we'll find anything else," Lillian said. May and I both shrugged and turned back to the Cullens.  
"Sorry, but, are you three some sort of police?" asked the pixie-like Alice.  
"We're FBI agents from New York," said Lillian in a dignified voice, the Cullens looked taken aback.  
"We haven't even introduced ourselves," said May, shaking her head, "I'm May Rose, and these are my sisters Lillian Devereux and Eleanor Lafreniere." We both smiled when she said our names.

"Sorry, I just need to ask," began Carlisle, "this Trisha Maxwell, was she the one that was found in our home?"  
"Yes..." said May tentatively.  
"Her time of death was October 23rd around noon-time?"  
"Yes."

"Then we have further evidence why it was not us that killed the humans," said Carlisle and took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me.  
"It's our plane ticket, at around twelve we were an hour into our flight, we've all got the tickets, the rest of us too."  
I flipped over the ticket looking for signs of forgery, Lillian and May doing the same, finding none I handed it back to Carlisle. "Looks legitimate," commented Lillian, we both nodded and fell silent.

But this was a startling new revelation; this meant it wasn't the Cullens who were behind the killings, our suspicions were proved false. But then who was it? How many of them are there? And why were they trying to frame the Cullens? Perhaps if it came to a fight, we could get the Cullens on our side, the three of us would not be able to withstand a fight of seven vampires.

"There are more of you? How many?" I asked.  
"Four, five if you count Jacob," said Carlisle.  
"Who is Jacob?"May asked.  
"Jacob is one of the werewolves we spoke about earlier."  
"But aren't vampires and werewolves supposed to be sworn enemies? Why does he travel with you?" I asked, frowning.

During my many travels I had met with others of our kind, they mentioned these werewolves and their brief encounters with them, during which they closely escaped death.

"It's quite a long story," said Jasper with a small smile.  
"We have time," replied May.

With the aid of the rest of them Carlisle told the story of the treaty between them, the unique imprinting between the werewolf and the half-vampire and their encounter with the Volturi where they had been spared.

"Interesting," said May slowly.  
"But that brings us back to you," said Carlisle, "You say your FBI agents? "  
"Yes," said May, "We were sent on an assignment because of all the homicides that were being committed across the Olympic Peninsula. We got stationed in Forks, and our other two team members are in Port Angeles. Most of them are occurring here, in Forks, though. So we went on a regular patrol of the forest, to see what we could find, we found two trails, one with your scent and other belonging to another coven. We followed your one and happened to come across your house," May smiled then, "Eleanor kicked over the door – "  
"I was wondering what had happened to our door," said Jasper.  
I grinned sheepishly while the others laughed.

May continued, "As soon as we got into the house we smelt human blood straight away, so we headed for the bathroom where it was coming from and found the – the body in your bathtub."

"Wait," said Carlisle suddenly, "the other scent you found in the forest, is that who you suspect did the actual crime, the ones that framed us?"

The three of us nodded, Carlisle and Jasper inhaled slowly. "Did you follow the other scent?"  
"I did," said Lillian, "I followed it up north; it doesn't go for very long, disappears once you reach the lake."

"You haven't tried to follow it since then?" asked Jasper who was now standing.  
"No."

"If we want to find out who's responsible, then our best plan would be to track the scent." said Jasper, looking through the window, deep in thought.

"What, now?" I asked, May was looking already looking doubtful. Jasper nodded in reply and Alice stood up with him.  
"I'm coming then," I announced and joined the party by the window.  
"Me too," said Lillian, May also stood up and joined us.  
"We'll all go," said Esme cautiously, everyone followed Jasper and I out of the house and back in front of the Cullen house were we had earlier met.

"Over here," called Jasper who was standing in the wood toward the west of the house, the rest of us joined Jasper; you could smell the scent of the other coven very distinctly here, it was a scent May, Lillian and I had come to recognize.

Jasper suddenly took off following the trail and we all followed after him, Jasper leading the pursuit with Alice directly behind him. The trail led us over the river where we all made leaps across it, Jasper and Alice a more traditional one; I took to doing a flip in mid air then following after the pair.

We ran a few more miles until we reached a small clearing, the clearing was not natural however as several trees that had toppled over were lying across the overgrown grass.

The smell of human blood suddenly hit me, I could see that the others could smell it too, beside one of the fallen trees were three corpses, a man, a woman and small child. I edged closer to the bodies and kneeled beside them, May and Lillian close behind me, examining them.

"Recently killed," said May gravely, I nodded and got up, Lillian was still staring at them, transfixed. I pulled on her arm, "come on," I said and she followed reluctantly where the three of us rejoined the Cullens.

Esme was looking afraid, Carlisle grave, Alice was gripping Jasper's arm tightly. There was a sudden rush of wind and we all smelt the scent of an approaching vampire, we all moved in closer together and stood to face the newcomer.

It was a female with bright crimson eyes and wild black hair, she looked somewhat deranged; she was surveying us in a bemused sort of way. Sensing danger, my palms ignited I concentrated on it to form my normally fear-creating fireballs, Lillian was lifting a small tree from its roots making it levitate a few centimetres from the soil and May was concentrating hard, probably trying to summon the water from the river we had jumped over earlier.

"Why didn't I see this?"whispered Alice angrily.  
"Who are you, what do you want?" demanded Jasper.  
"I'm Mira, its pleasure to meet you," she laughed hysterically. Mira didn't seem to be afraid of the fact that it was currently one against seven.

Her smile faded and her expression turned thoughtful, her eyes examining us in turn curiously.  
"Seven... Lucifer will be interested," she muttered. I lost any patience I had and threw a fireball at her, she looked frightened for a moment but dodged it easily, the fireball was immediately followed by a tree, roots and all; Lillian's working.

Mira dodged the tree as well and started to edge back into the forest. She started muttering again "Those two might be a problem... Christopher and Logan could probably take them though... rip off the short one's arms and then it'll be easy to take her, take off the other one's head, she'll be sufficiently distracted then, doesn't look like much of a threat - "

Lillian and I both snarled viciously and charged at her, Lillian leapt on top of her and started clawing at her arms, trying to rip them off no doubt, all rationality forgotten I kept throwing fire at her, she kept squirming on the grass, making it difficult to take a precise aim that would inflict some serious damage. I managed to singe off half her hair, making her look even more deranged than she had first looked.

I leapt on top of her as well, May suddenly joined the fray too trying to pull as all away, the rest of the Cullens too, shouting, but I wasn't listening, neither was Lillian. The three of us were all snarling.

Mira suddenly bit onto Lillian's hand. She yelped and flinched away from Mira involuntarily as the venom started doing its work.

Overcome with rage I bit into her shoulder and she shrieked, Lillian took Mira's momentary distraction and pulled off her arm, a metallic screech filled the air as her arm was ripped clean from her body, she began clawed at my face and I felt her rip out a chunk of hair.

Lillian was snarling, May was still trying to pull her off, Jasper was trying to pull Mira away from us with no success, with everyone's distraction I got up off the floor and picked up Mira's arm from the floor.

It was entirely repulsive, the arm squirmed in my grip and the fingers waved threateningly, trying to grab hold of my hand and return to its body.

Mira got up and ripped out a tree from the ground and launched it at us, Lillian quickly diverted the tree and sent it straight back at her, I didn't watch to see whether it hit her or not, my focus was directed at the grotesque arm I was holding.

Completely irrationally using the fire from my ignited palm I burnt the arm, purple and black smoke was emitting from it, the arm was reduced to ash. I let the darkened cinders fall to the ground, blackening the leaves and grass.

I looked up at Mira the one armed vampire who now looked absolutely insane as she prepared to charge at me.

I was distracted as I watched her run towards me, one arm reaching threateningly with no arm on the other side, she landed on top of me and I hit the ground, I felt sharp teeth bite into my neck, the sting of the venom was incredible.

I snarled again and tried to push her off me, I saw two pairs of hands pick Mira up from the ground, Jasper and May. May seized Mira's arm and held it behind her and kicked her in the back, sending her flying a few feet and straight into a tree, the one armed vampire picked herself up from the ground and ran off.

"She's gone," whispered May and pulled me off the floor, Lillian was cradling her arm and rubbing it absently on the spot she had been bitten my neck seared with pain, I pressed two fingers to it, as if I was checking a pulse, in attempt to cool the stinging, it didn't work and the pain remained.

I looked around at the Cullen's unreadable expressions, fear, amazement, shock. Would they think Lillian and I were some sort of sadistic vampires now, who took pleasure in burning off their opponents arm?

"I'm sorry you had to see that," I said mournfully, "I just sort of... lost control," I said and grimaced, that barely covered it, Lillian nodded in agreement.

"Let's – let's go back to the house," said a reasonably shaken Esme. I followed after her, May put a comforting hand on my shoulder and took Lillian's hand as we walked out of the clearing and set out at a run back to the Cullen house.


	8. Unrequited

_**Chapter 8**__  
May POV  
_  
The rain continued to fall at Forks, as we settled down in the spotless living room. Eleanor picked up the newspaper with the Cullens headline from the coffee table and settled down onto the white leather couch.

"What a turn of events, v_egetarian _vampires, and to think they're rare too…"  
"I never met other vampires, other than you two," Lillian told us matter-of-factly and sat down opposite Eleanor. She turned to me. "When are we going to meet your coven?"  
"Yeah, I'd like to meet them," Eleanor's voice was muffled behind the newspaper.  
I smiled "One day Lil, one day... when we're on our next vacation… we'll go to Tasmania, okay?"  
"The last time I was there, I stayed at a place called _Penguin_," Eleanor said behind the newspaper. "It was 1784, I swam there from Italy."  
Lillian and I looked at her with disbelief, "I don't care about your damn life stories Elle," Lillian exclaimed.

Eleanor ignored Lillian's statement and folded the newspaper. "Mira was odd wasn't she?"  
"Yeah, she's a bit y'know… messed in the head," Lillian said.  
I walked towards the back of the house, and a familiar scent hit my nose. "Elle, Lil, come!"  
They rushed to where I was and gasped.

"It's our murderer," Lillian exclaimed. "Shit, it's raining; the trail's probably washed off by now."  
Eleanor rushed upstairs.  
"They went upstairs," Eleanor said, returning by my side. "They went in our rooms and everything."  
"I don't want to fight," I whispered.

"Flaming-tree-time!" Lillian was still stuck in the euphoria of fighting with Mira.  
"Lillian, fighting is harder than that," Eleanor sighed "Mira was a newborn."  
"I think I'll call Lucy tonight, and we should tell the Cullens-" I was interrupted by the sound of a car slowing down in front of our house. "We've got guests; we'll talk tonight when they're sleeping alright?"  
The two of them nodded and smirks stretched across our faces.

The car stopped on our driveway and two doors opened.  
"…Kieran, can you open the trunk- ah!"  
Lillian chuckled and we all moved to the window and looked out discreetly. "I think she tripped."  
"What is the point of curbs anyway?" Ramona got up and walked to the trunk and she slowly placed her hands in to pick up the luggage. "Oh, that trip was _tiring_! I think I'm going to drop dead any moment now…"  
"Fine, go ring the doorbell, I'll get your luggage too," Kieran sighed and up his hands up in defeat.  
"You're the man," Ramona smiled and patted him on the back. "Heh, you're going to be in a house full of _girls_." Ramona headed towards the door, but Eleanor opened it.

"We saw _everything_," Eleanor said simply.  
"What do you mean… _everything_?" Ramona retorted.  
Lillian stepped in front of the door and mimed falling over.  
"Oh," Ramona mouthed and looked down at the ground. She whispered into Eleanor's ear. "Show me the best room, now!"  
"I don't think so!" Kieran ran past through the door, paused, and ran upstairs.  
"Ah shit." Ramona looked behind her. "When you say taking in luggage, it normally means taking them in the house!"  
"Which rooms are taken?" Kieran's voice rang through to downstairs. "They all look unused! Don't make me look in your drawers!"  
"Hey!" Eleanor, Lillian and I said, and ran upstairs.  
"Wait for me! Show me the good room!" Ramona cried out and followed us upstairs.  
Lillian pushed Ramona to the spare room. "Oh! Ramona has the spare room! Kieran, you can take Eleanor's!"  
"What-" Lillian kicked Eleanor in the shin. "What the heck are you kicking-?"  
"Eleanor and I can share, I have a big room anyway, c'mon let's go!" Lillian pulled Eleanor to Lillian's room. "I will show you around."  
"I want my room you _chienne_," Eleanor hissed.  
Lillian pushed Eleanor inside her room. "Have fun unpacking!"

Ramona and I stood in the rumpus room, perplexed at Lillian's peculiar behaviour.  
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," I yelled over the series of rapid French speech erupting from Lillian's room.  
"Hopefully," Ramona laughed. "I'm going to go get _my_ luggage in!" She proceeded to head downstairs. "That's right_, mine_!" Ramona directed at Kieran who appeared out of the main bathroom.

"Yeah fine, you don't mind if you bring mine inside the house at least? I'll unpack later!" Kieran called downstairs to Ramona. He clapped his hands together. "So why do I hear French?"  
"Eleanor and Lillian are having an argument. You're having Eleanor's room."

"Great. So where's your room?" Kieran said and raised his eyebrows. I looked away and smiled.  
"Why? You keen on a midnight visit?" I joked.  
"Maybe," Kieran smiled mockingly.  
"Of course he is- he's a guy!" Ramona emerged from the stairs and proceeded to her room. "By the way, being an encryptor means I know French!" Ramona directed at Lillian's room. The fighting stopped immediately.

Lillian's door flew open and Eleanor rushed out and winked at me inconspicuously. "I'm gonna pack and move to Lillian's room, I won't be long, _Kieran_."  
Eleanor shut the door behind her and Kieran and I was alone again.  
"Damn so close," Kieran muttered. I pretended to not notice.  
Kieran's door burst open with Eleanor pulling out a luggage bag full of clothes, obviously just stuffing them in quickly.

"I didn't really unpack anyway, and May, here's your underwear," Eleanor said loudly and threw a pair of my underwear at me. "Lillian must've got the washing mixed up or something," Eleanor winked and walked quickly to Lillian's room. I  
"Eleanor went to my room," I realized out loud.  
"But we didn't see her come out…?" Kieran tried not to laugh.  
"Our rooms are connected by the bathroom," I realized.  
We stood there in silence.  
"I could visit you anytime I want," Kieran said to break the silence.  
"No way, I'm locking my door," I warned, and turned to my room.  
"Be in my shoes, May, I'm in a house full of girls!"  
I looked at him skeptically. "Tough luck, homeboy."

*

I slumped on my four-poster bed and pulled out my phone from my pocket.  
_International call. Ring, ring._ _Ring, ring._ _Ring, ring._  
"Ah, May!" Lucy greeted, her voice altered from the poor phone signal.  
"Hey Lucy," I smiled, wondering what I sounded like to her. "What's the time there?"  
"It's ten past six in the evening, what about over there at Forks?"

"It's 'round seven, seven thirty? Yeah," I confirmed.  
"I really want to visit you," Lucy sighed. "We miss you!"  
"We're a bit packed here. It's the whole crew,"  
"Eleanor and Lillian?" Lucy asked.  
"Ramona and Kieran too," I added.  
"Poor kids, stuck in your rooms all night,"  
"Don't worry, we'll tip-toe down stairs to the backyard," I joked.  
"Don't wake the humans up!" Lucy said. "When was the last time you hunted?"  
"This morning. And we met other vampires,"  
"Oh! Are you okay?" Lucy's terrified voice was muffled through the phone.  
"Lucy, they were vegetarians like us. They've been living here for a while now. But a foreign vampire attacked us today. She's armless now." I stifled a laugh. "Relax, with the vegetarian coven, and werewolves-"  
"Werewolves?"  
"Shush, it's rude to cut across people," I said. "Anyway, everything will be fine, I promise."  
"This sounds really odd. Have you found the murderer yet?"  
"No, but we're pretty sure it is related to the vampire that attacked us,"  
"Hmm, be safe okay? This is different from your other cases,"  
"I know Lucy, I'll be fine. Positive," I reassured her.

The door of the bathroom opened.  
"I finished packing, and I was checking if the door was locked. I guess not," Kieran announced and sat on my bed. "Who are you talking to? Your boyfriend?"  
"Shush!" I said and kicked him lightly.  
"May?" Lucy called through the phone.  
"Yes?" I answered.  
"Are you in your room?" Lucy asked.  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Is there a _man_ in your room?" Lucy asked.  
"N-no," I said. Kieran tried the grab the phone off me, but I moved my hand.  
"Hello? There certainly is a man in May's room. I repeat-" Kieran declared loudly.  
"Oh, shut up," I told Kieran.  
"Ha! May? You're on speaker," Demetri laughed.  
"Kieran!" I yelled and punched him in the shoulder.  
"Hey isn't that the guy you're working with?" Demetri asked suspiciously.  
"Okay you know what? I'm hanging up," I said angrily.  
"See you-"  
_Beep, beep, beep.  
_  
"Kieran you idiot!" I yelled and threw a sequined pillow at him.  
"So it was your boyfriend…?" Kieran asked covering his face with his hands in defence.  
"So? What if it was?" I yelled angrily and threw a second sequined pillow at him. "Out!"  
"Fine," Kieran said and exited through the bathroom. "I was gonna tell you I was gonna leave my door unlocked, but maybe not, since you might kill me in my sleep."  
"All right, lock it, I don't care Kieran," I said. _I have other ways to get in_, I thought.  
"Yeah," Kieran said sadly and closed the bathroom door.

"Hmph," I said, and immediately Eleanor and Lillian came into my room.

"We heard yelling," Lillian explained. "If he tried to rape you, I'm sure you could seriously kick his ass…"  
Eleanor and I rolled our eyes.  
"What? She could if she really wanted to…" Lillian protested.  
"Right… he was flirting with you, you idiot-" Eleanor turned her attention to me and patted my head. "-and before too."  
"Demetri," I whispered. I pulled a pillow apart. "Demetri's gonna not let me live this down, as long as I live."  
"Well from your stories, he's being a brother-like figure," Eleanor pulled the pillow away from me.  
"I guess," I said forgiving Demetri slightly.  
"And I think you hurt Kieran's feelings…" Lillian grabbed the pillows off the floor and placed it on my bed. "I think he deserves a midnight visit, if you _catch my drift_."  
Lillian and Eleanor laughed half-heartedly. I raised an eyebrow.  
"Perhaps not… I think I'll stick with saying the common apology," I got off my bed and walked through the bathroom. "You guys, no eavesdropping."  
"We can't help it," Eleanor said. "We're vampires."


	9. Nouvel Amour

Vampire FBI-Chapter 9

_Lillian POV_

Orange steaks of sunlight bubbled through the grey clouds as the late afternoon sun began to set.

A small ray caught the tip of my finger, causing it to burst into bright diamond-like sparkles. I quickly readjusted myself before my abnormality caught the attention of less aware eyes.

Eleanor shook her head disapprovingly from where she sat, safely in the shadows of the house.

"Sunset already?" commented Ramona; breaking the eerie silence that had evolved between the three of us. Eleanor and I had been sitting on the cushioned sofa with her, awaiting the return of May and Kieran.

"What on earth are May and Kieran doing? Ramona huffed. "They've been up there for ages!" I laughed at her ignorance and Eleanor smirked from behind the magazine she began reading.

"Maybe they're having a thumb war?" I suggested.

"Or maybe they're getting down and dirty?" Elle alternatively offered, in a whisper so low, I barley heard it even with my heightened hearing.

"They better keep the volume down in that case, I need my beauty sleep, " I added, in an equally low voice, Elle stifled a laugh and placed the magazine on the antique coffee table.

"And in my bed too! These people are sick." Elle exclaimed with an expression of mock horror, still keeping the conversation barely audible. A couple of giggles escaped my lips, causing Ramona to cast a curious glance towards me.

"What?" She asked, completely oblivious to mine and Eleanor's quiet exchange.

"Huh? Oh nothing, I just, uh, remembered something..." I fibbed; lying was not one of my many talents.

"Right." She muttered, "Well I'm going to go to bed, it's been a long day."

"Night," said Elle half-heartedly; reaching for the TV remote.

"Nighty night, don't let the bed bugs bite!" I yelled out to her.

"Seriously Lillian, how old are you?" Ramona questioned.

"Mentally or physically?" I asked her back. She laughed and continued up the grand staircase toward her bedroom.

***

The sound of rhythmic snores escaped from under the crevice in Kieran's bedroom and the springs in his mattress squeaked as pressure(presumably from May's body) was rested upon it.

"Ahh, young love." I said absent-mindedly. May had been alone for too long, we all had. Growing up in a family that was founded on a loveless marriage had led me to appreciate the true meaning of everlasting relationships.

"He's human," muttered Elle, "how can it end well?"

"You don't think she's strong enough?" Relationships between vampires and humans are very rare; few of our kind have the restraint necessary for physical contact. Of course there are some exceptions, a select handful still mingle inconspicuously within the human population, both as incubuses and succubus's. "We deal with dead and battered bodies on a daily basis, I think she'll be able to control herself while having heated make out sessions."

"It's not just that, what about when he starts noticing that we don't eat or sleep? The unexplained visits to the forest? And the fact that our eyes keep changing from gold to black and back again? May's going to have to tell him the truth –if she chooses to be with him that is."

The creak from Kieran's bedroom door, followed by careful, treading footsteps alerted us of May's soon-to-be presence. Eleanor and I sat and listened as she slowly descended down the staircase, taking one step at a time. We watched as May entered the living room and sat wordlessly onto the lounge opposite Elle and I-her mind transfixed on another something another world from ours.

"I like him," she whispered, "I think I'm in love." Her eyes zoned back in and she contemplated her surroundings, acknowledging mine and Eleanor's presence.

"Naww, our little May's growing up, I think I have a tear in my eye..." I moved over and sat next to May, and began pinching her cheeks.

"Shut up Lily," May exclaimed and swatted my hands away from her face, "this is serious-this is wrong, humans and vampires aren't meant to be together. How will I be able to control myself? How will I be able to explain my inability to sleep? And when he eats and I don't, what then? What about when-"

"Sorry to burst your bubble May, but, how does Kieran feel about you?" Eleanor asked, subduing her tone to make it sound less vile.

"I'm sure you've seen the blood rise to his cheeks Eleanor, and the way he looks at her. Trust me May, he likes you-a lot." A slightly eager edge to my voice, the prospect of having a male in a house with three women was rather intriguing.

"Are...are you sure?" A tiny smile tugged at the edges of her lips, if she was human, she too would have been blushing.

"Of course, he's head over heels for you." The smile now extended the full length across her face and her eyes glistened with joy.

"But what about the whole vampire-human different creature's thing?" Worry had erased almost all of the happiness that had just been there.

"Didn't the Cullens' say that one of their siblings, Edward I think, had met his mate whilst she was still human? They even had a child together, that hybrid half-human, half-vampire, wasn't that why all the mess with the Volturi started?" I pondered on what Eleanor said, if it was possible for this Edward character to resist killing his mate whilst doing push ups-with no pants on-then it was certainly possible for May to do the same. She's lived for over one hundred and sixty years, it's about time she settled down, and Kieran seems like the perfect man for her to do so.

"Hmm, perhaps we should visit the Cullens' then? May, you could ask Edward; maybe he can suggest to you the best way to approach Kieran. And perhaps they could give us some advice about Mira and her sadistic coven." Eleanor suggested. "They would be good allies to have -along with their canine friends- in case of an attack."

"Good idea," I said, hopeful at the idea of meeting with the mysterious Cullen clan again. The brief stories about their quirky family members and their unique pasts had left me intrigued and curious. "When shall we go?"

Eleanor shrugged, "Now, I guess. It's not like we have anything better to do."

"But what if they're doing something?" asked May.

"Like...? " Eleanor prompted.

"Umm...maybe they're having some horizontal refreshments?" May said reluctantly, she seemed uncomfortable with the topic at hand.

Eleanor laughed and whisked the fringe from her eyes, "or maybe they're playing scrabble? I'm sure their night-lives don't just revolve around sex."

"Can we please just go? The smell of human blood is irritating my throat; it's in every corner of the house. May, if you hook up with Kieran, promise me you'll make him a vampire quickly, I'd like not to want to kill him all the time," I huffed.

Eleanor laughed again and May rolled her eyes. "Sure Lily, it'll be the first thing on my to-do list."

"Alright, let's go." I skipped out of the front door with Eleanor while May trudged sluggishly behind us.

***

Despite the hour, the forests of Forks were alive with creatures. Little insects -invisible to the human eye- rested upon dewed, emerald green leaves. Small birds trekked along the forest floor looking for a midnight snack, unbeknown to them, that they too were being stalked by carnivorous animals twice their size. Of course, this natural process of life disappeared as we, the un-dead, passed through and disrupted anything with the slightest hint of naturalism.

"I love how we can clear a room, or a forest in this case," laughed Eleanor, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we're just that cool." I said, agreeing.

"Mhm, totally," seconded May.

The trees and shrubs slowly began to thin, and soon enough, the faint white outline of the Cullen mansion crept out from beneath the bright foliage. We slowed to a walk as the house came clearer into view; dim light escaped from a curtained window, and the shadows of two embrace figures crossed past the light then disappeared again.

"That is repulsive," muttered Eleanor.

"Uh, maybe we should come back later," suggested May, as she slowly began to back away from the house. The crack of a small twig stopped us from turning completely around and going back home.

The female vampire standing in our midst was clearly beautiful. Her long, golden blonde hair cascaded down her back, and her perfectly angular face would have made any other girl standing within a fifty mile radius lose any self confidence which they had in themselves.

Her clothes, however, told a different story. They were tattered and had various oil smears all over her shirts and pants. Along with the large wrench in her hand and the diverse assortment of screwdrivers stuffed in her pockets, this mysterious blonde looked as if she had just been doing some sort of mechanics or industrial work.

"Uh, hi, I'm May," she stuck out her arm and gestured to shake hands with the blonde vampire. A scornful expression masked the blondes face and she watched as May's hand awkwardly dropped back to her side.

At last she spoke, "Three vegetarian vampires, crawling in the forests of Forks, _spying _on other people. You must be the new vampiric FBI agents." She pointed her finger accusingly towards us. "You're the one's bringing trouble to my family!" May, Eleanor and I looked at each other in shock, clearly taken aback by the vampires' reproachful approach. "If you- "

She didn't get to finish her threat, for a second vampire emerged from beneath the shadows, coming from the direction of the big, white mansion.

"Rose, it's okay. Relax." The newfound male was not like the others we had seen with the Cullens. His dark hair flowed down to his chin in ruffled curls; the colour corresponded perfectly with the pale white of his skin. He stood at a lengthy 6"2 at the least, his burly muscles compensated for half his overall weight, and they made him look all the more intimidating.

His eyes were a beautiful shade of liquid gold, and were so deep with mystery. The eyelashes framing his eyes were the same chocolate brown shade as his hair and were at an impossibly long length.

Just the slight of him caused my dead heart to flutter.

"Hi," He smiled a cheeky smile, revealing two symmetrical dimples. "I'm Emmett." _Emmett._ It felt as if my skin was impossibly burning. "And you three must be..."

"I'm El-" Eleanor began to introduce herself, only to be interrupted buy the newly named Rose.

"-one of the _FBI agents_ that terrorised us and accused us of murder!" Rose glared at each one of us.

"Rosalie, please." Emmett placed his hand on her shoulder to placate her but she shrugged it off and stalked back towards the mansion. It surprised me how this simple gesture made me feel extremely envious, an emotion I was not very used to, especially when it involved men.

"I'm sorry about her; she doesn't take too well to newcomers." Emmett apologized, and gestured for Eleanor to continue.

"I'm Eleanor _**Lafrenière**_."

"French? Bonjour."

Eleanor seemed quite interested that he spoke French, as was I. "Quelle partie de la France ne venez-vous?" _What part of France do you hail from? _

"Ah, Si?" Emmett answered back, confusedly.

"Ce mâle est bizarre." Eleanor laughed and I giggled along with her. May and Emmett looked at us with puzzled expressions, not quite understanding our humour.

"And who might you be?" asked Emmett, this time speaking to May.

"May Rose, nice to meet you." May offered her hand, and Emmett shook back.

"And you? What's your name?" he me asked quizzically. My voice caught in my throat, and instead of falling into those immeasurable eyes, I opted for the green grass beneath my feat.

Eleanor, who was standing to my right, nudged me in the arm, hoping to get a response.

Emmett took a step closer towards me, "hey, why are you hiding such a pretty face?" I bit my lip as he lifted my chin with the edge of his smooth hand. His golden eyes analysed me as I analysed him, the corner of his lips edged upward into a warm smile.

"Hi," he breathed, "I'm Emmett."

"L-Lillian." I flustered, "Lillian Devereux."

"Pleasure to meet you Lillian," he grabbed my hand, in a gentlemanly fashion, and lightly kissed it. If I were still human, my face would have been blushed scarlet.

Emmett released my hand and looked towards Eleanor and May, "Well ladies, would you like to come inside? I'm sure we have much to discuss." He winked towards me when he said the last of his little idiom; causing another flutter in my chest. May and Elle – who missed nothing – smiled approvingly at me.

Emmett gestured back towards the house, "Shall we?"

"Um, are you sure we're not-uh- interrupting anything?" May asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry; the only people scoring in that house are Florida Gators," he said casually, and I couldn't help but laugh, my first sane reaction.

***

The interior of the Cullen mansion was the same as the last time we were here. Each piece of furniture looked as if it cost at least ten grand a piece, and everything was designed to complement the object next to it.

The whole family was already seated on the white leather lounge even the ones we hadn't yet met. There was the easily recognisable Carlisle, with his with Esme, and Alice with her mate Jasper (who seemed to give Emmett and me a strange look when we walked in); also sitting with them, was the other half of the Cullens which we hadn't yet met.

Carlisle was the first to speak, "Eleanor, May, Lillian, welcome back. " He stood up, along with Esme, and shook each one of your hands.

"Hello Carlisle, Esme, it's good to see you again." I hugged Esme, she reminded me of my mother, except that Esme seemed to have a mother's love that wasn't based entirely on society's rules.

"Well, I see you've already met Emmett, this here is Edward, Bella, Jacob, Renesmee and Rosalie." Carlisle introduced us to each one of his children, and his grandchildren.

"I hope we haven't interrupted anything," said May timidly.

Carlisle laughed, "Not at all."

"And we're very sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused with this investigation." Eleanor affirmed.

"We just wanted to find the murderers, we're sorry that we wrongly accused you and your family," I added.

"It's quite alright," Carlisle reassured us. "In fact, this may have been an important learning curve for us all."

We spent the next few hours speaking to each of the Cullens. We exchanged stories past and present, life experiences and the various people we met along the way. Rosalie stood in the corner of the room, far away from Eleanor, May and I. Throughout the night, my eyes kept involuntarily finding their way back to Emmett, and each time I did so, I was always caught out.

Bella was just nearing the end of her story about how her and her mate Edward had met when Emmett walk over.

"Hey,"

"Hey, Emmett." I tried to act as normal as I could, but acting wasn't included in my special skills list.

"You're eyes are a little dark, are you thirsty?"

It had only been a few days since my last hunt, and the fire had only just started to make itself known, and now, with Ramona and Kieran I the house, hunting trips were going to have to be made more regular. "I'm alright, but I guess a quick snack wouldn't hurt."

"Alright, I'll show you how we hunt in Forks," he winked.

"Are you saying that I can't hunt?" I tried to act appalled, but I once again failed.

"No, I'm just saying that you don't know how to hunt in Forks."

"I'm pretty sure that they way you would hunt in the Forks would be the same as it is in New York, and the rest of the world for that matter."

"Well then you haven't hunted in Forks properly." He grabbed my hand and we ran out of the house, leaving the others gaping behind us.

***

We had been running for a good ten minutes before anyone said anything.

"Um Emmett, where exactly are we going?" The sky was already beginning to lighten as the sun started to re-emerge.

"You'll see," he simply said.

"Well, if you're taking me to some secluded place where you plan to rape me, just to let you know, I have mean kick, and you might just end up not being able to have kids." Emmett started laughing at my threat.

"I'm not planning to rape you, I can promise you that."

"Oh good then," I replied, "So is uh-"

"Yes..." he prompted.

"Is Rosalie your mate?" I asked tentatively

He seemed surprised by my question, "who Rosalie? No, Rosalie's my sister, I've never thought of her otherwise."

"Huh," was all I could think of as my response as I slowed to a walk.

"Why do you ask?" he wondered, following my pace.

"So you don't have a mate?" I asked instead, ignoring his question.

"Nope, well, not yet." I couldn't help but smile as he said that, something that didn't go unnoticed by him.

"What about you, mate or no mate?"

"No mate –for now." He smiled at my response the same as I had done for his.

"Wait, do you smell that?" I took a deep breath. Several different smells filled my mind; the smell of the grass, the trees, the plants, several smaller animals, Emmett's own individual scent (a sweet concoction of honey, vanilla and coca), and finally, the delicious smell of fresh grizzly bear.

***

I don't know when one large grizzly bear combined with several smaller deer had become classified as a 'light snack'. But by the time Emmett and I had finished our impromptu hunting trip, the sun was well and truly shining high in the sky, with the clouds circulating around it, threatening to cover this rare splash of sunlight.

Emmett and I started walking back towards our homes when a sudden break in the trees allowed the sun to reach our skin. We both shone brightly, our skin looking similar to that of a diamond left in the sun.

"You look beautiful in the sunlight Lily." Emmett complimented.

"You don't look too bad yourself." Emmett took at step closer towards me; I closed my eyes as his hand carefully caressed my cheek. He gently pressed his forehead against mine and my breath hitched as he slowly closed the gap between our lips.


	10. Outsider

_A/n: As of chapter nine, there are now three authors working on the story. We work in rotation, so that's why you might notice the style of writing is inconsistent._

_

* * *

_

_Eleanor_

I was not in a particularly happy mood. May was constantly floating around the house with that stupid expression on her face every time the name Kieran was mentioned, and Lillian spent half the day at the Cullen house with Emmett. On most occasions, I would tag along with Lillian and talk to Jasper, who I found was very nice and interesting to talk to, chat with Alice (I'd also gone on numerous shopping expeditions with her), share stories with Carlisle since I'd figured out that our ages were very close or sit around with Bella, Esme and Nessie. Talking to Edward was very irritating and embarrassing, since that stupid power of his was able to see into my mind, it's very annoying having to control your thoughts. Rosalie was interesting; she still hadn't warmed up to us and insisted we were some sort of dangerous threat. I was probably the only one she was civil to, only because I made constant attempts to talk to her, and that was only because I was insanely bored.

It was usually me and Ramona in the house now, going through a growing stack of DVD's that we had rented from the video store. Kieran and May had gone shopping at sometime around noon and Lillian hadn't even come home for the night. Ramona took a final slurp of her drink while the ending credits to _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone _started to roll. 'What's next?' asked Ramona, digging her hands into the sides of the sofa in search of the remote.

'Uhh...' I reached over and picked up the next DVD on the pile, '_The Hangover, _have you watched that one?'

'Nah put it on. I'm gonna go make some popcorn, you want popcorn?'

'No thanks. I think I'll go call May, does it really take _five hours _to go shopping?'

'Knowing those two, I'd say they were only at the shops for a maximum of one hour,' she called from the kitchen as I heard the sounds of her wrestling with the packet of microwave popcorn. The smell seemed to be wafting from the kitchen to here, and it did not smell pleasant at all. I wrinkled my nose as I reached for my phone, human food, honestly. I quickly typed in May's number into my iPhone and waited for her to answer, she answered after two rings.

'Hey, Elle. What's up?' the background noise was very disconcerting.

'Nothing much, Ramona and I are chilling on the sofa,' I replied, giving the aforementioned person a grin as she settled herself back onto the couch, 'where are you? It sounds windy.'

'Kieran and I are at the beach.'

'The beach? _Are you insane_?' I hissed.

'Relax, it's cloudy.'

'I'm not going to relax unless you're wearing a trench coat and carrying an umbrella.'

I could almost hear May rolling her eyes, 'I'll be home soon - twenty minutes tops.'

'Alright, see you soon,' and I hung up, placing the phone back onto the coffee table. I leaned back into the couch while I took the disc out of its case, placed it in the DVD player and pressed _play_. Ramona was rushing back into the kitchen as the microwave started beeping, while the opening credits of the movie started to show up on the screen. I contemplated calling Lillian, but decided against it. Things were changing, with Kieran and Emmett in our lives now it probably would never be the same, and I didn't know whether I wanted to accept this change at all. It had always been the three of us for the past few decades, we had even lived together, and now I couldn't help but get the feeling that we were slowly drifting apart, especially since Emmett came in, I had hardly seen Lillian at all in the past week. I wanted to be happy for May and Lillian, that they had both found someone to love, but I couldn't help feeling selfish, wanting them all for myself.

How are you supposed to feel when you're surrounded by happy and very exuberant couples? I had lived alone for the majority of my life, and I never really minded it. I had met plenty of vampires in my travels that were nice enough, plenty that I liked but never in _that _way. Of course I didn't have much romantic experience in my human life either, especially after I was forced into an arranged marriage.

"_You embarrass us, __Éléonore__!" _Mother had yelled. _"Why do you decline these handsome suitors when they ask for your hand in marriage? Twenty years old and unmarried, oh the shame you bring to us!"_

"_You don't understand, Mother. I'm waiting for – " _

"_For what, daughter? Are you going to bring up _love_ again? This isn't about love; it's about money and our status. By tomorrow I will have arranged a husband for you."_

"_Mother, please – "_

"_Not another word, __Éléonore__! You have brought shame to us for far too long. Now away with you!"_

'Eleanor, are you even watching the movie?' demanded Ramona.

'Sort of.'

'You missed the funny part, don't worry I'll rewind it.' Ramona re-winded it back a few seconds and we laughed together, we watched the rest of the movie, and then I packed the pile away because we had been watching DVD's since late morning, a quick snack in the forest sounded like a good idea at the moment.

'What colour scheme do you think I should go with?' Ramona asked suddenly.

'A colour scheme for what?'

'My wedding, obviously! Heath told me he doesn't like gold for anything. I think we should go with silver and a light blue, what do you think?'

'Sounds great,' I replied, thinking of a way I could politely exit this conversation as Ramona prattled on about the seating arrangement for her estranged aunt and uncle.

'For my cousin Juliet's wedding, we put Uncle Ralph next to my Aunt Jemima – cucumbers everywhere!'

A few minutes later, Ramona had ran upstairs and got a notepad and insisted I help her with compiling a shortlist of flowers that she would need to order, she furiously scribbled down my favourites (lilies, yellow roses, daffodils and tulips), we were discussing cakes when her phone rang, the caller ID showed that it was Mr Carter. There was a short conversation which I mainly eavesdropped on, until she reached for the now abandoned notepad and started writing down a list of co-ordinates that he was dictating to her. 'No further east than that?'

'That's right,' he clarified, 'take Hart with you and tell the girls they're free for the rest of the day,' he finished.

'I will - bye.'

'He says you're free for the rest of the day,' she said while she ended the call and began scrolling through the contact list on her phone for Kieran's number.

'Awesome.'

'Kieran hurry up and get home, Carter wants us in the forest by four. We're patrolling, yet again,' she said exasperatedly.

'Alright, I'm about a minute away, see you.'

Ramona hung up the phone and started running up the stairs to pack her bag, I could hear her muttering to herself as she searched for something.

'Have you got anything planned for tonight?' she called from her bedroom.

I scoffed, 'yeah, I was just thinking about going up to that new nightclub down the road and partying until the morning. Why do you ask?' I called back sarcastically.

I heard her give a small laugh, 'we're running out of groceries, do you think you and May could go pick some up and make dinner? Kieran and I won't be back until around eight.'

'Err – _shit, _yeah, I'll see what I can do,' I replied. This wasn't going to turn out very well. Neither May or I was educated on the topic of human food, having not cooked for so long.

'Great, thanks,' she called; I heard her zipping up her bag and a car pulling into the driveway. 'No celery, you know how much I hate that stuff, I wrote you a post-it, it's on the fridge.'

Kieran and May entered through the door casually, Ramona came back down the stairs and threw a backpack in his face while he was saying hello to me, Ramona practically pushed him out the door and the two seated themselves in the car while Ramona gave him a brief on her conversation with Mr Carter. 'Where are they going?' asked a confused looking May. She really did appear to have just come from the beach, her hair was a little wet in places and very windswept and the cuff of her jeans was soaked with water.

'Carter wants them to do another patrol, no idea why though, and Ramona told us to go grocery shopping and make dinner.'

'Dinner, are you serious?'

'Yep.'

'Do we have some sort of recipe book or something? I haven't cooked in over a century!'

'Yes, well, I've never cooked a meal in my life; we'll just make soup or something,' I said to her while I climbed the stairs to get dressed, I came back down the stairs wearing a dark grey cashmere sweater dress, black stockings and stilettos. 'Wow, where are you going?' asked May sceptically as she eyed my outfit.

I rolled my eyes, 'I haven't been out of the house yet, leave me alone.'

May laughed and passed me on the stairs on her way to change out of her wet jeans, the doorbell rang, I looked towards the door and saw Lillian's outline through the frosted glass. I swung open the door to reveal a broadly grinning Lillian in yesterday's clothes. 'Oh! What's this? Look who's decided to make an appearance May!' I exclaimed to the stairs, May came down wearing jeans and converse. I think that you should re-evaluate your friendship with a person when you realise they'll do anything in order for you to embarrass yourself.

'Well, hello Lillian. Haven't seen you in a while,' commented May.

'Where are we going?' Lillian asked while I came back into the hallway with Ramona's yellow post-it.

'Grocery shopping, apparently we're dressing fancy,' said May.

'I see you're not taking that initiative,' replied Lillian, 'I'll just be a second,' she joined us again at the foot of the stairs in a pretty white blouse and jeans. 'I'm driving, by the way,' she added lightly, we followed her in single file out the door, May stuffing a few bills in her back pocket as we walked. 'We turn right here, yeah?' asked Lillian when we got to the intersection.

'No, the Thriftway's left. Ballinger Way, remember, we passed it on our way in. You and Eleanor were laughing at the woman wearing socks and flip-flops,' said a slightly exasperated May. Lillian and I both chuckled.

'Right,' she said, turning left as the light turned green. We pulled into the Thriftway car park in a very convenient spot near the entrance of the store, when we walked into the store I wrinkled my nose as it was instantly assaulted by the smell of fruit, fresh and rotting. 'What's on the list?'

I checked the note which I hadn't spared a glance for yet, 'Okay, we have; eggs, milk, two loaves of bread, potatoes...' We went to the most obvious section first for the milk and eggs in the freezer, then spread out to gather the rest of the items on the list. The store was pretty empty, there was only us three, a woman with her young son and an old man doing their shopping. The store was decorated with long strands of Christmas tinsel and posters with Santa Clause and his sleigh, advertising their special prices, a bored looking cashier was leaning against his counter and staring in the direction of the car park. Christmas decorations meant December, the last time I had checked the date it was November 30th so it was the first today, which meant it was sixteen days until my three hundred and fifty-eighth birthday. How enthralling.

I tied up a plastic bag with six apples in it and crossed to May who was beckoning me over, standing next to the potatoes. 'How many potatoes do we need?'

'The list doesn't saying anything about how many.'

'Well, how much do you need for an average bowl of mashed potato?'

'How am I supposed to know how much you need, just grab two and let's move on.'

I turned to leave, 'No, Eleanor I'm serious! You need more than two.'

'Then get three.'

'Eleanor!'

'I don't know, get six or something.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, its how many potatoes I bought last time,' I said sarcastically, 'which was never.'

'Can you two stop arguing about potatoes please? That kid is looking at you weirdly,' said Lillian, pointing at the boy who was about seven years old and watching us, I stuck my tongue out at him, and he returned the gesture. 'Are we done then?' asked May.

'Yep,' answered Lillian and I in unison, we walked up to the bored looking cashier who started ringing up our items, determinedly not looking at us. May slapped the money on the counter before he was done with a concerned expression on her face. 'Your five dollars short,' the teenaged cashier said brusquely, Lillian swore quietly and May was probably contemplating what to take off our purchases to make it cheaper, luckily for them, I had a way around this problem.

I leaned on the counter, letting my hair fall gracefully over my face and gave him a slow smile, 'I don't think five dollars should be a problem. Do you?'

I realised my idea had worked the moment his breath hitched in his throat, the very many advantages of immortal beauty. 'N-no, it's fine. Your receipt,' he said, handing me the paper while keeping his eyes fixed on the floor.

'Thank you very much –'I checked his badge, 'Greg.'

'Wonderful, Eleanor,' commented Lillian, 'you've only learnt from the best.'

***

'So,' I said, 'what are we making for our little human friends?'

'I was thinking steak and potatoes,' replied Lillian, 'and some salad.'

'Okay, well, I don't know how to cook,' I said, I really didn't have a clue about the foul smelling and looking ingredients. I had never cooked in my life or seen anyone do it, when I was human we had had servants to do it for us and I'd never watched a cooking show on TV before, they just didn't hold my interest.

'Neither do I,' said May uncertainly, the two of us watched Lillian unpack the ingredients like an old pro.

'Okay, I'll do the steak, I don't trust either of you,' she said, 'Elle can you peel the potatoes?'

'Um – '

'Excellent, and May you make the salad,' she said, 'good, Ramona's left the meat to defrost.' Lillian started opening and closing cupboard doors in search of something. 'What are you waiting for? The potato peelers' in that draw over there and the bowls are in that cupboard.'

'Why does this bowl have holes in it?' demanded May.

'It's supposed to have holes in it, genius, it's used to strain the water from pasta and stuff,' she said exasperatedly. I managed to peel the potatoes in the end, though I was pretty sure I had peeled off at least half of the potato with its skin. Lillian kept hurrying us, saying that they would be home any minute while we cooked. Finally, the steak was taken off the stove, the potatoes baked and the salad freshly drizzled with some vinegar. Lillian was just commenting about how we finished just on time when we heard the sound of tyres on the driveway, only one set of footsteps exited and one car door closed before the harried figure of Ramona entered the kitchen.

'We've made dinner, where's Kieran?' Lillian said happily, setting down knives and forks.

Ramona ran a hand through her short hair, 'He's been injured- he's at the hospital.'

***

'We're here to see Kieran Hart,' May told the secretary at the hospital firmly, the clerk shuffled through some papers and gave us his room number and we took off down the hallway. Last night May had wanted to rush to the hospital right away and was devastated when we discovered the visiting hours were over. _'To hell with visiting hours,' _she had exclaimed, but they wouldn't let us in. We waited in the emergency room until a doctor came and gave us the news that he was in a stable condition, several broken bones and some internal bleeding, but he was going to be fine. According to Ramona, Kieran had fallen off a small cliff face and onto some rocks that were below. Ramona managed to get herself safely down onto the rocks where Kieran was and called for help.

The characteristic smell of cleaning chemicals filled the hallways while we walked to the direction of Kieran's ward. When we entered, thankfully it was to the scene of Kieran propped up against his pillows and reading a newspaper with mild interest. He gave us a tight smile when he saw us and we chatted for a bit with him, trying to skirt over the accident. Kieran's phone buzzed throughout most of the visit, calls from mainly his family back home in New York. Lillian and I left May with Kieran after about half an hour, visiting people in hospitals I found was a very awkward experience and Lillian was finding it hard to cope with the smell of blood wafting around the hospital.

When we arrived back home it was to a much more sombre environment than it had been the previous night, teasing each other about our inability to cook, now with Ramona alternating from her bedroom to the couch every so often. Lillian and I cooked for Ramona since she'd hardly slept that night and cleaned up afterwards. I was never really good with the whole comforting thing, so I tried to distract her with talks of wedding plans, which thankfully cheered her up a little bit, though I knew when May came home, she would be much harder to distract.


	11. Sienna Skies

_May_

The sickly scent of pasta wafted through the house as Ramona made her final preparations for dinner. It has been a week since Kieran's accident, and we had made daily visits to the hospital. It has been a bit quiet, since Kieran's playful nature isn't here to keep us company, but Eleanor and Lillian suggested that I was simply acting lovesick.

"It's like when Emmett is not around," drifted Lillian, as she zoomed off into her own world.

"Hey, you guys want some pasta bake?" Ramona called out from the kitchen.

Eleanor, Lillian and I glanced at each other and sighed in unison; "No thanks."

"Right, whatever," Ramona scoffed; I laughed as I heard her faintly mutter "when do they eat?"

Lillian and Eleanor also chuckled; I watched as Lily immediately picked up her phone and started texting furiously. Eleanor and I exchanged looks of contempt; as Lillian pressed the send button dramatically along with a loud sigh.

"Eight seconds, I bet," Eleanor whispered.

"Maybe a bit less you'd think?" I whispered back. Lillian's state of joy made her oblivious to the world around her. Soon enough, her phone vibrated again, which resumed Lillian's texting spree.

"Dear god," Eleanor muttered and turned away from Lillian. "Knowing those two, this could go on for two days, _straight_."

"Yeah, but by that time, they'd be in each other's arms already, playing a nice game of Twister."

"Oh yum, Ramona made some nice pasta bake, and you guys won't eat it!" Ramona cried, and sat on the sofa beside Lillian. Lily dropped her phone, and looked discomforted by Ramona's presence. I checked her eyes, and realised that they were almost the same colour as the pupils, pitch black. Lillian stiffened and picked up her phone awkwardly, she continued texting Emmett, without the same passion as before.

"What's gotten into you?" Ramona laughed and jokingly punched Lillian on the shoulder.

"Hu-h? Oh no-thing," Lillian said breathlessly.

"Lillian, you haven't been here a lot lately," Ramona smirked. "Got secret boyfriend or something?"

"No way, that loser hasn't," Eleanor covered for Lillian. "So have you found a colour for your napkins yet Ramona?"

"I can't decide between _Manhattan beige_, or _butter ridge_," Ramona sighed, and pulled out two paint cards from her notebook that she now keeps with her at all times. I observed the colour cards, and noticed the colours were just a tone different.

"They look the same Ramona," I contemplated. "Manhattan beige does have a nice ring to it, so if anyone asks you what colour the napkins are- '_Manhattan beige'._"

"Hm, yeah it does _sound_ better," Ramona reflected, as she took my advice to heart. "Manhattan _b-eige_, Manhattan, _be-ige_…"

Eleanor gave Ramona an odd look. "And to think the other day she couldn't decide between wedges and chips for the kids menu…"

I giggled while Ramona was still muttering _Manhattan beige_ under her breath. Lillian's body was still rigid beside Ramona, her phone lay forgotten upon the ottoman.

"Is anyone up for a walk?" I asked, Lillian breathed a sigh of relief as I rescued her from the temptation of human blood.

"Yes please, let's go!" She jumped off her seat and grabbed Eleanor's hand, the two of the raced through the door and disappeared in the forests thick foliage.

"We'll be back soon!" I yelled back at Ramona as I hastily followed after Eleanor and Lily.

*

I caught up with the others just in time to hear Lily being scolded by Eleanor "...Lillian, seriously, we're living with humans, Ramona doesn't know about your relationship with Emmett. May and I went hunting a few days ago, but you were with the Cullen's- be a bit more responsible."

"Yeah, yeah," Lillian ignored Eleanor's stern speech. She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and smirked, "Eleanor, you haven't been in love in three hundred and forty years."

This piece of information made me realise how alone Eleanor must of been all of her life. I always saw her as a solitary person- she often kept to herself. It wasn't until the mid-nineteen hundreds that she decided to settle down with vampiric friends, but to this day, she still remained mate-less. Although, this loneliness maybe due to her distraught past. There was also the fact that Lillian and I have already found our desired partners, this situation couldn't be easy for her.

The rough sound of a broken stick led me out of my thoughts, I turned and saw Lillian looking around guiltily, her foot stuck upon an oversized twig. We continued walking further into the forest, following the faint path marked out upon the forest floor.

"Emmett told me there are some bears about," Lillian informed us whilst breaking out into a sprint through the dense undergrowth.

"He did, did he? Just get some elk and stop making a fuss," Eleanor snapped.

"But I've been eating elk for the whole time we've been here- plus, I haven't had eaten in three weeks…" Lillian admitted.

"Lillian!" I scolded and whacked her behind her head. "We're living with humans! Eleanor and I have told you our meal regime so many times! You want to risk the death of our friends, for a guy you met just two weeks ago?"

I saw as the guilt sank into Lillian, her face was visibly upset; the rest of our journey was filled with silence. Light rain began to fall as we arrived at a break in the forest. The feint smell of vampires filled the air, which we all recognised as that of the Cullens. A small stream ran through the clearing which I assumed deposited into the river which followed through Forks.

"Hurry up Lillian, we don't have all day," Eleanor snapped again, I frowned slightly at her tone.

"Alright..." Lillian trailed off as her senses heightened as she targeted her prey. "He's close," she whispered, her mind was utterly captivated by the task of hunting as she continued to manoeuvre across the undergrowth. "It's not moving….sleeping…no it's barely alive…" Lillian muttered as she skilfully leaped upon a large boulder.

Eleanor and I leaped upon an overhanging tree branch, and found a juvenile bear lying besides the boulder. As Lillian said before, the bear was hanging onto its life. It made no attempt to defend itself as Lillian approached it.

"Mmm, _thanks Emmett," _Lillian grinned and started feeding on her prey. I inhaled Emmett's now familiar scent as I routinely surveyed the forest for any signs of danger. Eleanor and I swang our legs as Lily drank thirstily from the now dead bear.

"Stop staring at me, it's embarrassing," Lillian grumbled.

"Your eating _has_ gotten cleaner," I approved.

"Not funny," Lillian disagreed.

"Proper etiquette," I stated. "A young maiden like yourself should've practiced that."

Lillian stood up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, Eleanor and I gazed at the horizon, contemplating which way we would head in order to get our own meal.

"Something's coming!" Lillian hissed suddenly and we all froze in our spots. We listened to the thumping sounds of approaching footsteps.

"Vampires," I warned as I recognised the impossible speed in which the footfalls sounded. "Run!"

We all shot off in different directions through the forest. I was running along the stream, until I realised the footsteps were heading towards me. I abruptly stopped in confusion, I was definitely running away from the sound, until I realised – they had herded us.

I climbed up a nearby tree, and the sounds of two figures followed me. I swung onto another tree, and analysed the other's skills. _Newborns_, I thought. I didn't want to resort to violence, but by nature, if my life was at stake, I had to do so.

One vampire prepared to kick me, but I grabbed a hold of their leg and threw them onto the ground with the vampire behind them. Their momentary distraction allowed me to leap through the trees as fast as I could as an attempt to gain a distance between me and my enemies. The newborns didn't appear to have much skill in fighting; the simple move I had previously executed would not have worked on a vampire trained in combat.

_Why are they attacking me_? I wondered. They could be associated with Mira, the now armless vampire we had attacked a few weeks ago. I tried to locate Eleanor and Lillian, who I knew were probably fighting their own share of newborns.

I was well above the battleground, and from my tree, I had the perfect view of what was unfolding beneath. There were four vampires fighting with Eleanor and Lillian. I saw as Lily and Elle worked together on both and offence and a defence, their enemy, however, had the prominent advantage of newborn strength, and Eleanor and Lillian's power was not as effective as it usually would be.

I distracted the newborn vampires with a stream of water separating them from Lillian and Eleanor.

"Hurry up and start a fire!" I shouted and leaped down from the trees. I kicked down the tree I was standing on. "There's two more on their way, hurry!"

Lillian quickly came into action using strong telekinesis two build a barrier around the newborn vampires. Rocks and boulders surrounded them, as the newborns attempted to smash every piece into bits.

"A little bit like a child I suppose," Lillian snarled, and directed a large boulder at a newborn. They were thrown back a few metres, and knocked down another tree.

I kicked the two approaching vampires in the stomach into the four that were smashing up rocks.

"May! Divert all the rain falling onto the fire to them!" Eleanor snapped as she feebly tried to start a fire.

"Right!" I said and a large current of water splashed upon the newborns.

"We have to-" Eleanor pulled a newborn from the distraction area. "-tear them apart and put them into the fire."

"Okay," Lillian breathed. She immediately grabbed onto a young girl and sunk her teeth into her forearm. She tore the young girl apart, along with agonising screams, and threw the parts into the fire; I didn't miss the regretful expression on Lillian's face as she performed the task.

"Don't miss any!" Eleanor yelled as she fought against two vampires. Balls of fire were lit upon each hand. She ran around the battlefield and expertly shot each flame accurately at her target. Eleanor back flipped off tree and unto the back of her distracted victim.  
She bit down hard on the back of his neck and decapitated him.

The rain played an advantage to my part. I let one newborn follow me up a tree again. I jumped above the treetops and aimed a large current of water at my victim. Now distracted, I dived down, and ripped her arm off, and kicked her away from the battlefield.

Lillian was extremely distressed at the killing of vampires. "Lillian!" I tried to encourage her feeble telekinesis. "Their eyes are red! They've been eating! We have to stop them!" This gave her some support, as she gouged one's eyes out. "Touché," I murmured to myself.

Many trees and branches fell to the ground, as more vampires closed in on us.

"How many are there?" Eleanor cried.

"Argh!" I yelled and kicked one towards a tree. The tree broke from the impact and fell to the ground, creating a line of dominoes. "Shit."

"Oh well!" Lillian scolded and threw surrounding body parts into the fire.

"We're outnumbered," Eleanor gasped as a headless vampire tried to attack her. He was holding his head in one arm.

"Who the hell did not finish their job?" I complained and attempted to distract him for Eleanor. "Elle, behind you!" I yelled, but someone kicked me to the ground. Eleanor was quick enough to swiftly kick him away from her, but the vampire I was distracting managed to punch me to the ground.

"Why hello love," he hissed. I kicked him in the stomach and caught his head. I threw it into the fire, followed by his arms and the rest of his body.

"Elle, relight the fire!" Lillian instructed.

"Ugh!" Eleanor growled in frustration, "We aren't going to make it like this."

The sound of approaching vampires we tried to keep away got louder. "They keep coming back?" Lillian shrieked as a vampire with no legs pulled her hair. "Freaking zombies!"

"Don't even think about attacking my daughter," a familiar voice echoed through the forest. I turned around, and found a startled vampire being killed by Lucy. She pierced her teeth into his neck and began to tear him apart in a way that could only be described as savage and barbaric. "Look at our eyes girls, we're helping!"

Lillian was now grabbing fuel for a fire, as she acknowledged Craig, who was already done with his opponent. Eleanor tried to light a fire. "May!" She yelled impatiently. I immediately directed the rain away from Eleanor and towards eager newborns who were beginning to realise Eleanor's vulnerable state, holding her own against two vampires who appeared to be a shade more skilled than the ones we had already decimated.

"No! Eleanor!" I yelled and leapt over the roaring fire separating us. I abandoned keeping water away as two vampires grabbed her arms and legs, and pinned her to the ground.

Eleanor let out a scream. She tried to make a fire, but the now heavily falling ran was hindering her ability along with the fact that she didn't possess the amount of concentration needed to do so. With her current situation, I couldn't blame her.

Eleanor was on the verge of being torn apart.


	12. Imminent

_Lillian _

"No! Eleanor!" May's pained voice filled the forest. I turned in time to see her leaping over the fire closing the space between herself and Elle. _Elle. _Her struggling body lay between two sadistic newborns. One -the male of the two- was pressing her head into the ground, muffling her cries. The other, a female, pinned Eleanor's legs and arms to the floor, preventing her from any form of escape.

I dropped the assorted branches I'd collected and ran across the field towards May who was already tearing the female away from Eleanor. Another male emerged from the forest behind the disorderly affray; his dark brown hair was untidy, and his eyes had the same golden tone as May's parents. This vampire could only be May's adoptive brother, Demetri.

May struggled with her rival who was evidently more physically capable than her, no doubt from the fresh consumption of human blood and her newborn status. Demetri soared into the sadist restraining Eleanor - knocking him to the ground and freeing Elle. The two males began an intense battle, with Demetri seemingly having the slightly upper hand.

I attempted to run over to Eleanor, but was stopped in my tracks as something grabbed me around the ankle, throwing me into the mud below. I turned and caught sight of one of the girls who had previously attacked me (her comrade however, lay amid the ashes in the fading fire). A vicious sneer grew across her face, her crimson eyes showed no signs of remorse as she attempted to kick me in the abdomen. I turned, avoiding her kick, and via the use of telekinesis; I uprooted a small tree from behind the newborn, and pulling it towards me, hitting the back of the girl in the process.

In that small second of distraction, I hastily dismembered the newborn's body, adding her limbs into a newly lit fire, courtesy of Eleanor.

"Is everyone alright?" May called out. Glancing around the now quiet wilderness, I could see that numerous small fires had been formed, each releasing thick purple smoke. Random arrays of body parts however still painted the battlefield in sickly patches of ivory.

"I know I am," the Demetri seemed to have survived his battle with the newborns, considering the fact that he was waving a loose arm around, "not so sure about this guy though."

"Demetri!" May flung herself at her brother, "long time no see, bro."

"Yeah, such pleasant circumstances that we reunite in," Demetri grinned, a faint Russian accent broke through his words. "I think a second longer, and your little friend here might have been dead..." He said, gesturing towards Eleanor.

"I am not _little _- and _I _was handling it quite fine, I didn't need your help!" Eleanor said; retreating into the forest.

Demetri seemed bewildered as he watched Elle, "What's her problem?"

"Uhh, she's just been under a lot of stress lately," May appeared to be as shocked as Demetri (as were Lucy, Craig and myself). "So where've you been lately?"

"Well," Demetri began, "first-"

The sound of multiple, rapidly approaching footsteps halted the family reunion, "Oh my god, how many vampires are there?" May whined. The idea of having to face another set of blood thirsty newborns wasn't exactly ideal at this present moment in time, but then again, when is it ever ideal?

The six of us gathered together forming a tight circle, we all hunched down, ready for attack. As the footsteps grew nearer, the intensity in the clearing climbed; finally, the first of the group became visible from beneath the foliage. Surprisingly, it was Carlisle and Emmett, followed closely by Jasper, Edward and Alice. As Emmett closed the distance between himself and me; he embraced me into one of his signature bear hugs.

"Well this is certainly a pleasant surprise," The Cullen's appearance was certainly unexpected in this part of the forest. "What brings you to this part of the wilderness?"

"Alice had a vision," Emmett reminded me of Alice's uncanny ability to have premonitions of the future. "She saw the newborns coming to the clearing, near where you were hunting, she saw you three and their contraband colliding, and her vision just stopped there."

"And you naturally thought I couldn't take care of myself?" I teased.

Emmett chuckled, "No, I actually wanted to watch you kick all those newborns' asses."

"Maybe next time sweetie, you were a bit late this time round, who knows, I could even teach you a move or two..." I gently tugged the collar of Emmett's shirt and lowered him closer to myself.

"You? Teach me? _Please_." There was barely an inch separating myself and Emmett, and, as he spoke, he closed the gap, bringing his lips upon mine.

Only when Carlisle 'subtly' cleared his throat did Emmett and I break from our libidinous embrace. If I were human, my face would have been scarlet from the sheer embarrassment of being caught in such an inappropriate situation. Emmett, noting my mortification, winked and smiled largely- revealing his two identical dimples.

"I-I'm sorry, I got slightly carried away," I stammered, Emmett had readjusted his arm, which now rested comfortably along my waist.

Carlisle smiled, "Not at all. Well it's good to see that everyone is alive, luckily you had some help from-"

"Oh, this is my family," May interrupted, "these are my parents; Lucille and Craig, and my brother Demetri."

"Demetri of the Volturi?" Jasper questioned, setting his gaze on Demetri.

"_Ex_-member of the Volturi," Demetri said icily.

"You left?" May wacked Demetri across the back of his head, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Demetri absentmindedly rubbed his head where May had hit him "I was going to sis, I wanted to surprise you, but –as you can see- I was slightly distracted upon arrival."

"Oh, sorry." May grinned sheepishly.

"So you're no longer a part of the Volturi?" Jasper pressed.

"I realised -after many years of thought- that if I were to live forever, what exactly would I live for? The Volturi- they live for power; they see themselves as the hidden kings of our world. I didn't want any of that, madness from eternal existence. What I want is a purpose."

May erupted in violent laughter, "What are you going on about?" she asked, while everyone else stood around awkwardly, trying to decipher the meaning behind Demetri's words.

"Speaking of which, where is Eleanor?" Carlisle wondered.

"She's hunting...in Canada." Alice answered; no doubt she'd had a vision of Eleanor and her whereabouts.

"Canada? Why on earth would she be hunting in Canada?" I wondered. Alice shrugged, but something in her eyes led me to believe that she was hiding something.

"Perhaps we should leave her be," May suggested, "just give her some time; she'll come back when she's ready."

"Well since everything's alright, we'll leave you to catch up with your family May. It was nice to see you again," Carlisle left the clearing, followed quickly by Edward and Jasper after they had both said their farewells. Alice however, left with a particularly audacious grin directed toward me and Emmett (who still had his arm around me).

"I'll see you later May," I said.

"Wait, where are you going?" May asked.

"They're your family May, go be with them. Besides, I have to go buy Eleanor's birthday present," I had absolutely no idea what I was going to get Elle. After knowing her for well over sixty years, and having celebrated a few birthdays within that time, presents ranged from extravagant jewellery to expensive cars and everything in-between. . Besides, what exactly do you buy a vampire for their three hundred and fifty eighth birthday?

May seemed quite appalled by my lack of organisation, "Lillian! You haven't bought her present yet? What's wrong with you? Her birthday's in a few days!"

"I don't know what to get her!" I yelled indigently, "and it's in a week for your information."

"Whatever! Go get her something- _now_." May's heightened voice filled the forest, I wouldn't be surprised if Eleanor could her us all the way over in Canada...

"Fine, but wait, have you bought her your present yet?" Maybe May could give me an idea as to what I could get Eleanor.

May laughed, breaking her fit of momentary anger, "yes, and I'm not telling you. Emmett you better take her away before she gets too carried away."

Emmett too laughed, "Gladly, come on beautiful." He gently grabbed my hand and pulled me deep into the cover of the forest. "I never thought we'd be alone..." Emmett pulled himself down upon me. His lips trailed across my cheeks; starting on the edge of my lip, then moving up to the egde of my ear, and circulating back down again. His hand meanwhile, fell slowly down the curve of my back - sending tingles through my spine.

The butterflies in my stomach fluttered agilely; through the many times which Emmett had kissed me -hastily so- the butterflies had always appeared. "_Ta maman ressemble_," Emmett whispered broken French into my ear, "_à bout mon âne_."

I pulled myself away from Emmett and looked him in the face, "What?"

Emmett looked quite surprised at my surprise, "uh, _ta maman ressemble à bout mon âne_?"

My laughter seemed to bring a wave of relief to Emmett, but also add to his confusion, "Now who taught you that?"

"Edward, why?" he asked.

"What exactly did you do for him to teach you that?"

"Me? Nothing?" he smiled and put his arm around my shoulders.

I don't think that Emmett realised that _ta maman ressemble à bout mon âne, _translated to _Your mom looks like my ass_, in French.

"Sure." I wrapped my arm around his waist and we began strolling through the woodland. "So what are you doing tonight?"

"Oh I've just got a few things to sort out," Emmett had a very peculiar expression on his face; it was as if he were up to something and he wasn't going to tell me what. "Why?"

"I was just wondering. What about tomorrow, any plans?"

"Hmm, not that I know of, why are you doing something?"

"Well, the shops are closed for the day, but tomorrow I need to buy Eleanor her present -before May murders me."

Emmett chuckled, "what are you going to get her?"

"I literally have no idea, but I think she was hinting towards a kitten, I have a feeling that won't go down too well though. It'll probably be dead within its first second of living with us." I sighed, "And there's no point getting her anything antique, considering that she'll probably be older than anything I buy her."

"We'll go to Seattle tomorrow then, oh, and I'll introduce you to my baby..." Emmett smirked.

"Your baby?" I asked, confused. Emmett simply nodded, "Alright then, it's a date. "

Emmett glanced at the watch on his wrist, "I've got to go now Lily and do some...stuff. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh okay, see ya." Emmett kissed me lightly on the cheek and left, running east towards the Cullen house. With May hanging with her family, Eleanor hunting in unknown area, and Emmett now gone, I was for once left without anything to do.

XXX

I nervously twirled a lock of my hair around my finger as I waited for Emmett to arrive. Again, I glanced at the large oak clock mounted on our wall; the seconds hand had only moved ten places since my last check.

"Jesus Lillian, chillax a bit -you know what guys are like, totally disorganised, he'll probably be here next year." May sighed; her and Eleanor had grown increasingly frustrated. Throughout the course of the morning, I had hassled them for their opinions on each of the fifty billion outfits I'd tried on, eventually, we settled on the jeans and coat ensemble – along with my beanie, scarf and favourite pair of gloves.

I listened to the numerous cars speeding along the main road adjacent to ours. Suddenly, a car broke through the traffic and turned hastily into our street; its tyres screeched piercingly on the dampened road, and at last, it came to a progressive halt in front of our house. The front door of the vehicle clicked open, Emmett's feet crunched the gravel on the footpath as he walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

May peeked out from a gap in the curtains, "I stand corrected."

I grabbed my handbag and went to open the door, this time, opting to use the 'normal, civilised, and non-_le freak_ way' (as Eleanor would call it) instead of with telekinesis. Surprisingly, Emmett wasn't at the door; instead, he was grinning widely –next to him, a huge white Jeep.

"Your baby?" I questioned.

"Mhm," Emmett nodded, "isn't she beautiful?"

"Gorgeous." I agreed as I walked towards the car.

"Still, I could think of someone who's more beautiful than her." Emmett pulled himself away from the car and slowly walked towards me.

"Is that so?" I asked.

"Yeah," he answered, "she has pretty blonde hair, gold eyes, and a really, really hot body when nake-"

"_Emmett!_" I gasped, May–who was standing in the doorway– looked on with an expression of total disgust.

"Um, _ew_." May gagged.

"Uh, I think we should go now," I hastily opened the passenger door whilst Emmett walked around to the other side.

"Don't worry girls," he said, "I'll take good care of her." Emmett revved the Jeep's engine; the sharp noise blasted through the empty street. Next door, I could see the edge of the curtains raise, peeking from behind, stood our neighbours Meg and James. I waved towards them; they however, mustn't have seen me, despite eying Emmett's oversized car suspiciously.

"Who are you waving at?" Eleanor asked.

"It's Meg and James," I said, pointing towards their house. Eleanor, May and Emmett immediately look towards the window, both May and Elle waved as I did. Once they noticed we were watching them, James and Meg promptly drew their curtains back.

"Well that was weird." Eleanor commented. How odd. Since moving to Forks, we hadn't seen much of our neighbours; Eleanor, May and I had just assumed that they were quiet, but now with this clearly irrational behaviour, maybe they were just extremely unusual?

"Yeah...anyways," May tapped on her wristwatch, "I want her back by eight."

"Not a problem, she'll be home well before then." The car jostled forward as Emmett raised his foot from the break.

XXX

The drive to Seattle took us a couple of hours, even with Emmett's completely insane driving. At last, we arrived in the hectic city, the towering buildings and apartments –along with the everlasting rush of traffic– was definitely a sight for sore eyes.

After managing our way through traffic, Emmett was easily able to locate the largest mall in Seattle (which he credits to being 'dragged' to many shopping trips by Alice).

"Thank God." I sighed after stepping safely on the ground. The car park was so congested, that once we finally found a spot, we almost got into an argument with a middle aged human struggling to control her three screaming children (one of which urgently needed a diaper change). It wasn't until we finally stepped into the chilled air-conditioning of the mall, that I really felt at home.

"So where are we heading first?" Emmett noticed my obvious change of mood, and grabbing his hand, I directed him straight to _Tiffany's_.

"_Tiffany's_?" Emmett wondered.

Guys can be unbelievably hopeless sometimes, "Jeez Em, every girl loves jewellery." Hundreds of jewels shimmered under bright lights of the _Tiffany's _display cabinets. Everything ranging from necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings – in all forms of shapes and colours – filled the shop. In the centre of the store, lay the most extravagant of all gems; encased in oversized glass, a single diamond ring glittered lavishly. "Whoa, now _that's_ what you call a ring."

Emmett walked over from the ring display and stood next to me, observing the ring. "Wow, that is one huge rock."

"Yeah..." I stared admiringly at the pear-shaped diamond; any woman would kill to have that 2.5 carat ring resting on their finger. "I think we should leave now Emmett, before I buy the whole shop."

"I thought we were here for Eleanor," he reminded me as we walked out of the store.

I giggled as Emmett wrapped his arms around me, "We are, but the amount of times I've bought Elle jewellery is beyond countless. I need to get her something different this year, something _awesome_."

Emmett laughed, "What, like the Sims or something?"

_The Sims, w_hy didn't I think of it before? "Have I mentioned that I love you?" I kissed Emmett lightly on the lips before walking towards the nearby _Apple _store.

"Wait, what?" Emmett followed confusedly beside me.

"The Sims," I repeated. "Eleanor loves _the Sims_, I can't believe I forgot – I mean, it's the perfect present."

"I never would have thought that were you _Sims_ players."

"Hey, I'm legendary at the Sims." I reminisced on the old times when Eleanor, May and myself would spend hours on the computer. "Once, I made a family with ten generations, but then they died because May 'accidentally'killed them all. Our obsession has faltered over the years but, I think it's time to reinstate it."

"Alrighty, well let's get shopping then." As soon as we stepped into the store, we were immediately hounded by the nearest shop assistant.

"Hi, how may I help you today?" he asked a little too eagerly, well, eagerly enough to cause Emmett to place his arm all too noticeably around my waist.

"Uh hi, I was just wondering what your best laptop in stock is?" I asked.

The shop assistants eagerness was now replaced with fear, perhaps because Emmett was giving him such blatant death stares. "Um yes, well we have the uh _Mac book Pro_, that's our newest product. It's a very efficient and fast computer."

"And how does it cope with games and such?" Emmett asked.

"Q-quite well." He stammered.

"Alright, we'll take it." The shop assistant seemed taken aback by our avidity, but proceeded to get a laptop from the back of the store. Emmett and myself however, walked over to the counter, to pay for the Mac book.

"That would be $1799." The assistant announced when he returned with a packaged laptop. I handed him my credit card and proceeded to enter my pin number.

Emmett grabbed the shopping bag and walked out of the store, but not before glaring one more time at the worker. "Receipt's in the bag." He mumbled after him.

"Thanks," I said before following after Emmett. "Hey," I murmured when I caught up with him, "I think that guy practically shit himself."

"Yeah well he shouldn't have been looking at you like that," Emmett muttered.

I placed my hand in Emmett's free one, "Naww, don't be so hard on the guy, he was young." He mumbled something in response, but continued walking. "Besides, he was nowhere near as hot as you."

Emmett pulled me towards him for a quick kiss. "Lily?"

"Mhm?" He let go of my hand and instead replaced his arm around my shoulders.

"You know I love you right?" It surprised me how much those three little words affected me so. You always see in corny romantic movies how hearing _I love you_ for the first time makes your heart stop, I didn't think it was true – or physically possible for a vampire for that matter.

I stopped walking and looked directly in his warm, liquid eyes. "Of course I do."

"Good then." Emmett smiled smugly before kissing me again, this time deeply than before. It wasn't until he broke the kiss, that I realised nearly quite a few people were staring at us (especially the over concerned mothers with kids _"Those over-sexed youths..."_). But it wasn't until I really looked around that I noticed that there was one couple staring quite intently at us.

"_Crap._"

"What?" Emmett asked, slightly concerned.

What are the chances? "It's Meg and James." I whispered in his ear.

"You neighbours?" He asked.

"Yes; my neighbours just witnessed me making out with a Cullen boy," I gasped, "some FBI agent I am. May and Eleanor are going to murder me!"

Emmett glanced back at where Meg and James were, "well they're gone now, maybe they didn't recognise you?"

"Yeah I highly doubt that. Come on, let's buy the games and get out of here, the humans are becoming overwhelming." I inhaled deeply, hundreds of different smells filled me; blood, human stink, human food. It was positively disgusting.

We headed to _Best Buys _where we purchased the entire _Sims 3 _collection totalling for a nice $300.

Having bought Eleanor's present (and not bumped into Meg and James again), we decided to use the opportunity to do some shopping for ourselves. Emmett bought himself a few pairs of sneakers along with a couple of beanies, whereas I found some new jeans, boots, a cashmere scarf and leather gloves. There were only a handful of people left in the mall by the time we began to leave.

"I think I should leave the Mac and games at your house until Eleanor's birthday," Emmett was putting the shopping away in the boot of the Jeep while I waited in the front. "I don't want repeat of 1984."

"What happened in 1984?" Emmett wondered.

"Well me and May went out hunting, and when we came back, we found the whole house had been turned upside down and Eleanor sitting on the lounge. She claimed that she came home and found the house like that, but her scent was all over our stuff."

Emmett shut the boot and walked over to the driver's door, opening it swiftly. "Did she find the presents?"

"Nope," I laughed. "We're smarter than that; we hid it in a safety deposit box at the state bank."

Emmett chuckled, "Good call. So what are you doing tonight?"

"Why do you ask?" I wondered, although, I had a feeling that he was thinking somewhat similarly to what I was.

"Well I was wondering..." he began.

"Mmm?" I prompted.

"Feel like playing twister?"


	13. A Tout le Monde

The middle aged woman shivered as another bout of cold, wintry air blew in through the open window. The thin, white transparent curtains billowed in the twilight breeze, like restless ghosts. Her flame coloured hair tickled the nape of her neck as the gentle wind receded, the middle aged man beside her shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to ignore the sixcalculating, crimson-eyed stares.

'... a telekinetic, a water manipulator and a pyrokinetic, that is all the information you have for me?' asked Lucifer, the coven leader. The light glinted off his white-blonde hair and his eyes were as black as coal, depthless and emotionless.

'We have more. News that may... _displease_ you.'

'Indeed? What is it?'

'Lillian Devereux, the telekinetic is in a relationship with Emmett of the Olympic Coven. It's undeniable, the two covens have formed an alliance –'but the woman's voice was drowned out as angry mutters arose across the small room. Lucifer's pale white fist slammed against the table angrily, his features contorted into an expression of immeasurable rage.

'_No_.'

XXX

_Eleanor_

I hopped out of the tall Jeep, slamming the door behind me carelessly and followed May as she walked up the gravel driveway, keys jingling slightly as she fished them out of her jeans pocket.

"I'm _really_ starting to get tired of these patrols," I commented offhandedly, my mind going back to trekking through miles of endless vegetation, swatting flimsy branches out of my way and brushing debris from my hair as I went, all at a tortuously slow human pace.

"An unfortunate part of our job," Lillian agreed, nodding slightly. I still wasn't sure whether I had completely forgiven Lillian yet. I wasn't even sure _why_ her comment had made me so angry in the first place, but I decided I was going to forget it. I could stay angry at Lillian for a week, and there was a good chance she wouldn't notice. Lillian was just one of those exceptionally unobservant people.

May unlocked the front door and we all filed through, dumping backpacks and gun belts onto the dining table and proceeding to the lounge were we all simultaneously fell back onto the couch. May pulled a cushion towards herself and began picking at the fringes on the pillow absently while I stared out the window, observing the cumulating storm clouds gathering on the dull grey horizon.

"What have we got planned for today?" Lillian asked, suddenly getting up and crossing to the other side of the room. Apparently she couldn't handle sitting languidly on the sofa for a few seconds.

I shrugged, "Nothing I think," and turned to May who also shrugged and turned back to her cushion.

I hadn't realised cushions were so fascinating.

The shrill ring of the doorbell interrupted our lethargic silence, Lillian immediately turned for the door, May a few steps behind her, I remained on the sofa; peering past the wooden divider to get a clear view of the door. As soon as I heard his easily discernible voice, I leant back against the couch, no longer interested in who was at the door.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply as I wondered how I was going to deal with this situation. I knew we'd meet again, but I wasn't prepared for it being so soon.

"What brings you here, Demetri?" I heard May's voice say. Lillian closed the door behind Demetri and led the pair to the lounge, May and Lillian re-claimed their seats while Demetri took a seat in the armchair across.

"I was in the neighbourhood and felt like dropping by," he said, his lips curving into a slight smirk. "No, actually Lucy and Craig went hunting and I got bored by myself. Oh, hello Eleanor," he said, raising his eyebrows slightly at me.

I refrained from rolling my eyes, "Demetri," I replied curtly, giving a slight nod of acknowledgement. The room was plunged into a momentary awkward silence as the previously friendly atmosphere dampened. I grabbed a magazine from the coffee table and began to read, simply for something to do as May and Lillian attempted to rekindle the previously light-hearted mood. The magazine turned out to be a Target catalogue; I used every ounce of acting skills I possessed to feign interest while I let them carry on with their conversation. I kept sneaking glances at Demetri over the top of the catalogue when he wasn't looking; I knew I had to talk to him but my own pride was stopping me.

Running off after someone had saved my life was definitely not an appropriate reaction. I should have thanked him, like any normal person would, and we all would have moved on. All I'd done was create a much bigger mess than was necessary and made an idiot out of myself.

_No one ever choked to death by swallowing their pride._

"Demetri, can I talk to you outside for a second?" I asked, three pairs of eyes instantly flickered towards me. May's eyebrows were raised so high, they were in danger of disappearing into her hairline.

"Sure," he replied, and led the way into the back yard. I knew that even though we were outside, May and Lillian would be able to hear us with perfect clarity, but it made me feel better without their watchful and apprehensive gaze on me while I humiliated myself.

As soon as I stepped outside I immediately felt a drop in the temperature. Outside, the weather was icy and biting, and a cold wind blew fiercely, ruffling the delicately planted flowers and small shrubs in the garden. Demetri stopped just beside the east fence, this was perfect. Lillian and May wouldn't be able to see us unless they looked directly through the glass sliding door. This revelation made me feel slightly better.

"Well?" he said, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me expectantly. I took this moment to get a proper view of Demetri; he was average-sized for a male and had messy dark brown hair that grazed his shoulders. His eyes were currently a dark gold, framed by long lashes which cast shadows over his angular cheekbones.

"I just wanted to say..." I began; I swept my hair off my face only for the wind to displace it again, right across my eye. Demetri raised his arm and brought it close to my face, his fingertips inches from my hair, he drew back suddenly and let his arm drop back to his side.

"What did you want to say?" he asked, a smirk re-forming on his face while I stared wide-eyed, momentarily caught off-guard.

"Stop smirking!" I exclaimed, swatting his arm. I was stalling, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I'll put on my serious face," he said, his features forming an expression of extreme graveness. I couldn't help a little giggle escape my lips.

"You can proceed now," he advised.

I rolled my eyes, "I wanted to say thank you for saving me when I obviously needed help and sorry for the way I reacted after you did..." I said quickly, drawing in a breath as I gauged his reaction.

To my relief, he smiled. "Apology accepted and you're welcome."

"So... are we cool now?" I asked, biting my lip.

"We're cool," he said, extending his hand. I grinned as I shook his hand, and laughing slightly, we retreated back into the house.

XXX

The week leading up to my birthday was a strange one. No matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn't talk Ramona out of having a party. She had spent the majority of today in the kitchen baking my birthday cake with Lillian helping out occasionally. I was forbidden from entering the kitchen, Ramona was convinced that every time I walked past the kitchen it was all part of my plot to get a peek of the birthday cake and sent mock glares my way every time I did so.

I had also formed a unusual friendship with Demetri since our reconciliation that windy day a week ago. I liked spending time with him, he was a very likeable person but we had never been alone together. There was some unexplainable tension between us, and a slight feeling of resentment that he was May's brother. When we went to say our goodbyes every time he left our house, the three of us went up to hug him when he was about to leave, it surprised me that he held onto me longer than necessary, and what surprised me even more was that I liked it.

The sound of someone walking up our driveway startled me out of my thoughts. The book that lay open my lap had been left unturned for about ten minutes now. I slipped a bookmark between the pages and placed the book on my bed-side table beside the glowing lamp. I crossed to the window and shifted the white, gossamer-like curtains aside and peered down onto the night cloaked street.

By the gleam of the front porch lights, I could see Demetri making his way slowly up the path, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He must have noticed the sudden appearance of light from the top-storey because his head snapped up quickly. I quickly let the curtain fall away and darted away from the window, grinning. I took one last peek, this time with out moving the curtains and saw him climbing the porch stairs. Then the doorbell rang.

I hastily ran a hand through my hair before skipping out of my room, then adopting a calm mask of composure as I descended down the stairs, though I couldn't help smiling just a little. May, Lillian and Ramona were already greeting Demetri as he came through the door. Demetri had been visiting our house very frequently this past week, I had my suspicions.

"Hey Demetri," I said, joining the group in the hallway, everyone slowly walking towards the lounge room.

"I saw you spying on me," he smirked, "what kind of FBI agent are you?"

"Excuse me, but I was not _spying_, just casually looking through my window, I don't see a problem with that," I replied, also smirking.

"I still say you were spying."

May put a hand on Demetri's arm, "Come on, let's go sit in the lounge -"

"_Actually, _I was hoping I could borrow Eleanor for a little. If it's okay with her, of course," he said, I shrugged and went to stand near the door, a little confused but excited.

"Sure, I guess. I'll see you two later," said May, frowning a little. Lillian nodded, then took her phone out of her pocket as it starting vibrating, most likely another text message from Emmett. I half-heartedly waved before heading out the door with Demetri.

"Where are we going?" I asked curiously as Demetri set out at a slow pace down the street.

"Hunting," he said, "come on." He took off with a sudden burst of speed down the road. The forest wasn't far from here. I quickly caught up to him as we ran down the streets, anyone looking out of their windows wouldn't be able to see us, it was dark and we were only blurs as we ran. There were hardly any cars, as was expected from this quiet, residential area.

The hunting trip was quick. I wasn't feeling very thirsty, so a small deer sufficed while Demetri brought down a large mountain lion. When we were done I thought we would run back home, but Demetri insisted we walk instead, just as we nearing the edge of the forest.

It was a quiet and peaceful night while we walked in silence. The sky was dark blue velvet, besprent with stars like silver specks of glitter, the moon was a barely noticeable thin strip of white. As we walked further out the forest, the thick canopy that obscured the sky was beginning to recede. The ground was dense with slightly damp leaves and overgrown grass which brushed at our knees. I stifled a look of surprise as Demetri suddenly took my hand and wound his fingers with mine. I turned my head to face him and give him the smallest of smiles, before covering my face with my thick hair.

"Your hands, they're warm," he commented.

"They have to be if I can produce this -" I lit a flame on my free hand and held it up, "at any time."

"A useful gift," he smiled. I closed my hand into a fist, extinguishing the flame and let my arm fall back to my side. I was going to ask him why we didn't simply run back to the house, when he spoke again.

"Does it bother you, that May and Lillian both have mates but you don't?" he asked brusquely. I was taken aback by the question, no one had ever asked me that before.

"No it doesn't," I lied, "I'm happy for them."

"Really?"

"Yes, I like seeing my friends happy," I replied adamantly, wondering where this conversation was going.

He didn't reply for a few moments, but he seemed to be deep in thought. "It's just you seem sort of lonely."

I looked at him with raised eyebrows, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be angry or launch into a deeply emotional speech about my feelings. I didn't feel very inclined to the latter, I always hated talking about _feelings._

" I see your face when May and Lillian talk about Kieran or Emmett - "

"Is that why you're doing this, because you feel sorry for me?" I snapped, ripping my hand out of his.

"No that's definitely not the reason. I'm doing this because I _want _to. I'm just trying to understand you, Eleanor."

I looked up and met his eyes which had a slightly pleading look to them, his eyebrows were furrowed slightly. He didn't _look _like he was lying. I dropped my gaze after a few more moments and sighed, "alright, then."

We began walking again, though I felt slightly disappointed that the previously light-hearted mood had been so unceremoniously killed.

"Anyway, how old is the little birthday girl turning tomorrow? I'm pretty sure it's not twenty-four like Ramona said."

"Ramona was off by a few years, I'm turning three hundred and fifty-eight," I laughed.

"I'm older than you, I turned three hundred and sixty two a few months ago," he said proudly.

"That so?"

"Yep," he nodded.

"Old fart," I said quietly, while grinning devilishly.

"I'm sorry, but did you just call me an old fart?" asked Demetri with mock hurt.

"Oh, no. You must have misheard."

"_Really?_ I could've sworn I heard you call me an old fart."

"Nope. It's very loud here in the forest, it was an easy mistake to make," I laughed. That statement was a huge contradiction, the forest was dead silent. I stopped walking as I spotted the watch on Demetri's wrist, a lifted up his hand so I could get a better view of the time. "Oh wow, it's almost midnight. I didn't realise we were gone for so long," I said, letting his arm go.

"Come on, we'll run," said Demetri who took off suddenly, not to be left behind I followed hastily.

It didn't take us long to get back to the house. We climbed the porch stairs in silence, I was about to reach for the doorknob but Demetri stopped me, I turned to face him with a questioning look. "Wait, I want to give you your birthday present - "

"Demetri, you didn't have to get me anything," I protested, but he shook his head.

"Yes I did," he insisted. He reached back into his pocket and dug out a small, satin pouch and pulled the strings on the top. He turned the pouch over his hand, and out slid a silver necklace on his palm. He held it up for me to see with a slight smile on his face.

The chain of the necklace was delicate and silver, and the pendant was a small sapphire encrusted with diamonds. "It's beautiful, Demetri. Thank you," I smiled.

"Here, I'll put it on for you," he said, motioning with his hand for me to turn around. I did so, moving my hair away from my neck. His cold hands tickled my neck as he did up the clasp, "there," he said. I turned back around to face him and saw that he was checking his watch. He moved a little closer to me before speaking.

"It's midnight," he said quietly.

He leaned in closer, cupping my face with his hand. "Happy birthday," he whispered, bringing his face closer to mine. My eyes fluttered closed as I felt his lips lightly brush against my own, when the front door was flung open and light spilled out onto the deck. Demetri and I both immediately sprang apart, averting our eyes from each other.

"Hello you two," said Ramona cheerily, "May and Lillian wouldn't come down to open the door. Said they had something to do upstairs... near the window."

Neither of us replied, I continued down to stare at my battered chucks.

"Are you coming in, Demetri?" asked Ramona.

"Uh no, it's getting pretty late, I should head home. I'll see you two tomorrow," he said, "bye, Eleanor."

I smiled at him as he walked past, and Ramona quickly ushered me inside the house. "Aren't you cold? It's probably five degrees _(41 Fahrenheit) _out there," she said. "Oh, look it's midnight," she said, pointing to the clock on the wall. I followed her gaze, even though Demetri had told me that information only moments ago. "Happy birthday! I'm the first to say it, aren't I?" she said happily.

"Yeah, thanks..."

XXX

Colourful streamers hung from the ceiling like stalactites and balloons had been taped onto the wall in pairs of stochastic colours. Beneath the haphazardly applied party decorations, the eight of us sat around the dining room table which was overladen and groaning with dishes. Ramona had out-done herself, nearly every square inch of table cloth was covered by a plate of some sort of food. It was only too bad that out of the eight guests at the table, only two of them were actually eating.

I was seated at the head of the table, by Ramona's insistence since I was the "birthday girl" on either side of me were Demetri and Lillian. To my surprise, I hadn't felt any awkwardness between us when he came in, considering our almost-kiss out on the porch last night. We had been sneaking glances at each other since he arrived. Down Lillian's row were Kieran and May. Early this morning Kieran had been dismissed from the hospital and was as cheery as ever, even though he was sporting a sling on his left arm.

I tried to suppress a laugh as I watched May push more food onto Kieran's already full plate when Ramona wasn't looking. "_May_," Kieran said exasperatedly, pointing to the growing mound of mashed potato on his plate.

"You need to keep your strength up, you're already injured," whispered May as an excuse. Every one apart from Ramona and Kieran knew she was only doing it because human food was disgusting, even if Ramona had dubbed herself 'master of the kitchen' earlier this morning.

Down on Demetri's side of the table, Craig and Lucy were pushing around the food on their plates miserably while Demetri good-naturedly took a few hesitant bites.

Ramona's head snapped up and turned to face me so I speared a piece of meat onto the end of my fork and placed it into my mouth, chewing slowly then swallowing heavily, I felt the slimy lump of food slide down my throat. I held back a groan at the prospect of having to cough this all up later.

The conversation from before had died down as we all "ate" in silence, the loud scraping of Kieran's chair broke it. "Where are you going?" asked Ramona, as Kieran tucked his chair back into the the table.

"Bathroom," replied Kieran before heading off down the hallway. I popped a cherry tomato into my mouth as Ramona stood up as well, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go check on the cake."

It was completely quiet as she walked out of the living room. As soon as we heard her enter the kitchen, all six of us immediately sprang up off our chairs, silently, and headed for the windows where we all proceeded to empty most of the contents off our plates before quickly sitting back down, regaining neutral positions and pretending to chew the remains of our food.

Ramona shuffled back to her seat, staring curiously at everyone as they picked up little pieces of food from their plates and slowly chewed. "Should I get the cake? It looks like you're all done," said Ramona, her sentence sounding uncertain and trailing off at the end.

"Sure," I shrugged, as Kieran came back into the room and reclaimed his seat. Ramona left the room again, mumbling to herself softly. I felt a little bad that she had gone to all the trouble to prepare a huge birthday meal. But we couldn't have told her that we're all actually vampires and live off animal blood, and I _had _tried to convince her to not make a celebration of my birthday, but Ramona was stubborn. There was no budging Ramona when her mind was set on something.

"Nicely handled," said Lillian, "I don't think she suspects a thing."

"What happened? What did I miss?" asked Kieran somewhat frantically as we all stared around uncomfortably. We were spared from answering when Ramona re-entered the room, carrying a medium sized cake covered with white icing. It looked delicious, though I knew it would taste otherwise if I actually tried it.

When she set it down in front of me I noticed there was a single red rose on the cake in the form of an edible pastry sticker and had "Happy Birthday, Eleanor" written in cursive with black icing. I grinned up at Ramona who was watching me expectantly, "It looks really good, Ramona. Thank you."

"It's no problem," she said airily, waving a hand dismissively. I smiled as she began placing twenty-four candles around the perimeter of the cake then getting out a lighter to light the candles. I really could have done it myself, but I supposed Kieran and Ramona would have been a little creeped about my gift.

When the candles were lit up, everyone launched into a boisterous "Happy Birthday" song while I sat awkwardly in my chair, avoiding everyone's eyes and Ramona taking a ridiculous amount of photos.

I prepared to blow out the candles as the song finished. "Don't forget to make a wish," shouted May from across the table. I had been wishing for the same thing since 1923; for love. I locked my gaze with Demetri's before blowing out the candles, I didn't need to make a wish this time.

By tradition, I cut the first piece of cake (trying to make it as thin as possible) and slid it into a plate before Ramona took over hastily, unable to watch my lack of expertise with a knife any longer.

I joined Demetri by the window, holding my plate of cake. "What did you wish for?" asked Demetri with a smirk. I was sure he was already knew.

"A new bike," I grinned, watching him as he faked a pout. I heard the doorbell ring and I hurried to the door, wondering who would be at the door now.

I was still smiling as I opened the door, but it slid right off my face as I saw what was on the doorstep.

It was a body, a bare-chested male with the words "Happy Birthday" scratched deeply into his chest.


	14. Misguided Flame

_**May **_

"Kieran! It's your turn!" Ramona threw the dice at him and gulped down some bourbon.  
"I know _that_!" Kieran snapped. "Leila! Pour me some more of this…thing."

We were playing monopoly in the living room; Ramona and Kieran gulping down half a bottle of bourbon. Eleanor and Demetri had disappeared, probably to dispose of the birthday cake from earlier. It was noticeable that the atmosphere between them was a lot calmer than when they first met, which is a lot more pleasing than before; since hiding behind an upside down magazine help at all.

"Sure, if that will make this game a lot funnier than it is now," Lillian grinned and poured another glass of bourbon.

"Thank you very much Linda," Kieran raised his glass up in the air, as Lillian laughed.

"Hurry up Kieran!" Ramona demanded and shook her glass at Lillian for some more bourbon.

"I know _that_!" Kieran threw the dice on the table. "One…two-"

"Five," I patted his head, and watched him move his figure eight places forward instead of five.

The heavy scent of alcohol was suddenly overwhelmed by the fresh scent of blood as the front door squeaked open. Lillian and I stood up from our seats, sending the paper money flying everywhere.

"Oh, are we sharing the money?" Ramona said rather enthusiastically, and threw the remainder of the monopoly money into the air.

"Good job, keep going!" Lillian encouraged, as we left Ramona and Kieran in the living room.

"What's going on here?" I announced as I approached the front door.

The dense smell of fresh blood lingered as saw the body at the doorstep. No one answered my question, as just a look at the body explained everything. Blood dripped down the corpse's chest and neck, contorting our white porch; it was obviously dumped there, as the male was situated in an awkward position. The etchings on his chest made me shudder- did they do that when he was alive or dead?

Lillian had the most frightened look on her face as she clasped her hands over her mouth to control her undying thirst. Eleanor was holding her fork in the air, with a small piece of cake at the end. She was clearly shocked, as the message was obviously meant for her. Demetri was kneeling down next to the corpse, with the deepest look of concern in his eyes. He then picked up the corpse by the arm.

"What are you doing?" Eleanor said angrily jabbing the fork at his direction.

She was about to grab the corpse back, but flinched back as Demetri pulled away.

"Putting it somewhere no one can find it," Demetri said seriously.

"What the hell Demetri?" I replied. "You can't go round chucking corpses everywhere- there's vampire written all over it."

"And I'm putting it somewhere no one will ever find it, promise," Demetri walked out onto the lawn. "The scent has already been washed away by the rain..."

"What? We're just going to ignore the fact that there is a _dead_ human, on _our_ doorstep, with happy birthday scraped on his chest, on _my_ birthday?" Eleanor shoved the plate of cake into my hands and walked out to Demetri. "My birthday!"

"Well, we're not going to ignore it exactly, what are we going to do, tell the police? Just get rid of the body for now, and call all the vampires together in Forks," Demetri sighed and patted Eleanor on her head "Sorry about this, I'll be gone for a while, we have no choice."

Eleanor had no reply to this; she tried to say something back, but refrained herself from doing so. 'Bye' was all she could manage.

Demetri ran off in the rain with the body, heading towards the forest. Eleanor stood there in the front yard, staring at the direction he left at.

"Eleanor, your clothes are getting wet," Lillian called out.

"No, really?" Eleanor stomped back under the cover of the porch. "Clean the blood off the porch; if Kieran and Ramona see it, what are we going to tell them?"

Lillian and I sensed the anger in her voice and left off to find a bucket and a sponge to clean up the porch.

"Someone has issues," Lillian said sarcastically whilst scrubbing the porch clean.

"It's her birthday, she can have issues if she wants to," I pulled out my phone. 'Might as well call all the vampires for a meeting, I highly doubt the Cullens are really used to this many vampires living in the same town."

xx

Kieran and Ramona already went to bed, as the bottle of bourbon lay empty on the floor Eleanor however was most likely sulking around in her room contemplating tonight's events.

"I feel so criminal," Lillian sighed, as she finished wiping the floor. "There was a dead body on our porch and Demetri is flinging him around in the woods."

"He's not flinging him around!" I snapped. "He was part of the Volturi, so he probably has some tricks up his sleeves."

"Oh really?" Lillian looked at me with all seriousness "Can you trust him to that extent, to believing he's not actually still working for the Volturi?"

The ironic thunder strike at this moment signalled the moment I realised the possible outcomes of the Volturi. Could the Volturi be actually behind these gruesome murders? They do have a pastime with Forks, and the Cullens for that matter. Maybe Demetri was actually still working for them?

"No way," I denied the accusation, as we walked towards the kitchen. "Demetri won't do that!"

"Oh please, stop with that sister talk," Lillian slammed her hands on the bench top. "It's natural for a sister to defend her brother, I understand that. But think about it, you're not even blood related. Imagine him as a suspect. Firstly, he is a supposedly 'ex-Volturi' member. Secondly, why did he come visit us when we're at work? Why not at New York? And thirdly, who in the world volunteers to hide a dead body that is crucial evidence to our investigation?"

Lillian paused to let the information sink in. She obviously wasn't joking; this was a serious topic. But I could not accept the fact that Demetri was the one behind it. He was my brother, why would he do this to me, to me _and_ my friends?

"You obviously did a lot of thinking whilst scrubbing the floor," I said to break the silence.

"May!" Lillian shook my shoulders. "It all fits! The Volturi are behind it!"

"We can't be sure Lillian!" I said angrily. "He's my brother, and he's changed from when he was still in the Volturi, I can see it."

"Whatever," Lillian put her hands up in defeat. "Put it at the back of you mind, he's a suspect for now."

Lillian walked up towards the stairs. "Birthday girl still seems to be depressed."

"Mhm, it's not everyday when you receive a human body as a present," I sighed at sat on the couch. The monopoly money crunched as I applied my weight on it, I just couldn't be bothered picking it all up.

"Do you think we should remove some of the hidden food around the house?" Lillian asked, and pulled out a chicken wing from under the couch.

"They won't notice!" I waved my hand at her and rested my head on a cushion. Lillian sighed and pointed up towards the ceiling. Never have I seen so much mashed potato in my life.

**

Eleanor, Lillian and I drove up to the Cullen's place. We decided to have a meeting there, since it proved quite spacious for the large number of guests. It was around two AM in the morning, and Lillian's accusation still lingered on my mind. I tried to call Demetri several times, but it seemed like he didn't bring his phone with him. The quiet town of Forks filtered pass us, as the never-ending rain continued to pour its hearts content out.

I parked the car on the Cullens driveway. We we're about to knock the door, but the Alice beat us to it. She opened the door, with Jasper standing not so far behind her.

"Please, this way," Alice smiled, as she led us to the spacious living room.

Lucy and Craig were already there, and were having a conversation with Carlisle and Esme. Bella was sitting next to Edward; Renesmee was not around, I realised.

"She's with Jacob," Edward informed me, with a look of utmost discontent. I nodded in reply and continued to follow Alice and Jasper.

"So why have you called us all here?" Edward stood up from his seat abruptly.

His ability to read minds probably already knew what we were going to say, but thought it was best for us to say it. Everyone probably realised that to, as they all look at Eleanor, Lillian and I.

"Well, a few hours ago, we were having a party for Eleanor's birthday," I started to say, as everyone's attention turned to us. "I think the smell of human food, and the euphoria of the whole party made us miss a person approaching our front porch-"

"And someone placing a dead human body there as a birthday present," Eleanor ended.  
"What did you do to the body?" Rosalie asked.

"Demetri's handling it," Lillian said darkly. "Which is really weird, if you think about it."  
"Lillian, not now," I shook my head in disapprovingly.

"No, they should hear it, and see what they think," Lillian stood up from her chair and started pacing around the room. "Demetri is an ex-Volturi member, as you all would know."

"It doesn't mean that he's behind it!" Lucy snapped.

"Since when, would the Volturi so keen on letting go of their best tracker?" Lillian ignored Lucy. "No, the Volturi would not do that, unless they made some deal with him. I'm not against Demetri!" Lillian tried to convince everyone, "He's a nice guy, but the whole Volturi thing…"

"Yeah, you're right, Demetri is…nice, and that's why he won't kill humans and expose the nature of vampires so carelessly!" Eleanor snapped.

"You're only saying that because he saved your life, deep inside, I know you think the same too!" Lillian retorted.

"No, I don't! It doesn't fit, Miss I _fell in love with a guy I only met for thirty seconds_," Eleanor snarled.

"At least _I've_ had more flings!"

The two best friends glared at each other from across the room. Lillian looked like she was going to leap at Eleanor any moment now, but she had enough dignity to refrain herself. Eleanor however, did not. Eleanor suddenly leaped across the room, too fast for me to hold her back in time, and slapped Lillian across the face. Lillian fell to the ground, and placed her hand on the cheek where Eleanor has slapped her. Eleanor stood there for a moment, and then stormed out of the room. Lillian was about to chase after her, but Emmett held her back.

Everyone stood in silence. I didn't know how to react. Never have I seen those two at this degree before in our friendship. Of course, there was the occasional disagreement here and there, but never before… they have never expressed themselves in the form of physical violence.

"Are you okay Lil?" I heard Emmett whisper into Lillian's ear, as he held her in his arms. Lillian was too shocked to say anything. She simply walked out of the room the same way Eleanor did. Emmett followed her outside, into the surrounding forest.

I sat down on my chair again. This happened so fast, I never saw it coming. I too felt like giving Lillian a good bashing a few times in this lifetime, but never actually seriously. Eleanor and Lillian have always been friends since I met them. I still could not believe Eleanor actually slapped Lillian right across the face.

"I think we should post-pone this meeting for a bit," I announced. Everyone nodded, as they let me pass outside. I didn't need a Jeep; I simply ran.


	15. Come With Me

_**Lillian **  
_

White streaks of cloud danced across the bizarrely clear blue sky. I watched as clouds changed, making different shapes before changing again. The bright grass crunched under the pressure of my body weight as I lay upon it. Beside me, the dandelions swayed gently in the breeze, entangling themselves in my out-stretched hair.

The peaceful silence of the forest was broken as footsteps fell through the surrounding trees. "Are you okay?" Emmett asked as he lay beside me.

"I'm fine." I lied, subconsciously rubbing my cheek where Eleanor's slap still lingered.

Emmett, noticing me rubbing my cheek, sat up, "Here, let me see." He reached to move my hand but I pushed him away.

"I said I'm fine," I snarled. Emmett, looking deeply surprised at my reaction, pulled away and lay back onto the forest floor

The sun had managed to rise and fall in the time that we lay together in silence. Finally Emmett brought me out of my reverie, "Alright," he said, "get up." He roughly grabbed my hand and pulled me off the ground.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I demanded, pulling my hand from his.

Emmett sounded exasperated; "geez Lillian, You can't hide in the forest forever!"

"I'm not hiding." I said defensively.

"No shit you aren't. You've been in sitting here for hours hiding from Eleanor and from what happened."

"I-I-I'm...oh." I stammered, he knew. "I don't know what to do Emmett. This has never happened before – not between Eleanor and me, or even May. I don't know what to do." I repeated.

"Shh...It's okay, it'll be okay." Emmett pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me, comforting me as I sobbed.

"It's not okay Emmett," I said, breaking his hold. "Eleanor, she's my best friend - my sister."

"Yes, but that's not an excuse for her to hit-"

"-no, but I can understand where she's coming from. She's finally found someone and now I've accused him of being a traitor and murderer. I need to go apologise..." I walked off into the wilderness, Emmett trailing close behind me.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Emmett asked.

"Well what else am I going to do? We can't stay angry at each other forever; I need to make this right."

"Okay." Emmett grabbed my hand and we walked together back to the house.

XXX

The house was empty as Emmett and I entered it, neither Eleanor nor May were anywhere to be seen. Emmett fell onto the lounge and began browsing through television channels whilst I sat next to him, flicking through a magazine. It wasn't until well past midnight that the sound of keys rattled outside _beyond_ the front door. I carelessly tossed the magazine onto the coffee table then stood up, waiting for May and Eleanor to enter the living room.

"Hey." I said, May walked into the living room and sat on the lounge opposite Emmett, Eleanor walked in after her.

"Hi." May returned coldly, she sat expectantly, as though waiting for an explanation or _something _to occur; Eleanor continued to walk through the living room.

I caught Eleanor's hand, forcing her to turn around, "Eleanor-" she turned around hastily –anger clearly written on her face. "Sh-she-that bitch," Eleanor pointed threateningly in my direction, "she thinks that-" unable to finish her sentence, Eleanor stood behind May looking extremely frustrated.

"Eleanor will you shut up for a minute, so that I can actually explain-" I began.

"Explain what?" Eleanor interrupted, "explain why you think that my boyfriend is a murderer?"

"I didn't say he's a murderer, I was just _suggesting_-" Eleanor snorted in disgust "-that the Volturi may be behind these murderers and that Demetri's sudden appearance back in Forks is coincidental considering that he was an _ex_-Volturi member." I concluded.

"How dare you! How can you think like that about him? How can you _suggest_ that he would do that to us – to me?"

"I don't think he would have done it on his own accord, the Volturi would have put him up to it."

"And why would he have agreed?" Eleanor questioned.

"They probably threatened him with something, like Jane."

"What's Ja_-_?" began Eleanor.

"I think a better question Eleanor, is: who is Jane?" Demetri emerged from the shadows in the corner of the living room.

"When did you get here?" I asked him.

"Well, I've been here all along."

"So you heard everything?" I wondered

"Everything." Demetri confirmed.

"Oh, I'm sorry Demetri, I-"

"Please," Demetri interrupted, "don't apologise. You had a perfect reason to assume that I had something to do with these murders, I mean, even to myself, my appearance does sound coincidental." He chuckled lightly. "And I wouldn't put it past the Volturi either to be involved with something like this, but you have to understand Lillian; I have absolutely nothing to do with it."

There was a moment's silence whereby Demetri moved across the room and kissed Eleanor lightly on the cheek, she relaxed immensely at his touch and she even laughed as he whispered into her ear.

"I believe you Demetri." I said quietly. "I don't think you had any involvement, I know you wouldn't hurt May or Eleanor, and I'm sorry for believing that you would."

Demetri smiled, "It's okay, apology accepted." I held out my hand, "Oh I think we can do better than that," he instead held out his arms to give me a hug, "we are, after all, brother and sister. I mean, May is my sister and Eleanor is my girlfriend so we're basically related."

"I guess we are," I laughed tentatively, "you know, I've never had a brother before."

Demetri chuckled, "this shall be interesting then."

"Indeed." I walked back to the lounge where Emmett had been sitting silently during tonight's conversation. I sat down beside him as Demetri and Eleanor sat together on the opposite lounge and May pulled up a chair from the dinner table.

Eleanor glanced at her wristwatch, "where are Ramona and Kieran?"

"They went to Port Angeles for the day," May continued after noticing our confused expressions, "Mr Carter asked them to follow up on some apparent 'new leads' on the case. They should have been back already..." She ended; a slight note of anxiety in her tone.

"Worrying about your boyfriend are you May?" Demetri teased.

"I am not." May retorted.

"There, there. I'm sure Kieran will be home soon, he is a big boy after all –" The sound of Ramona's boisterous 4WD moving cautiously along the street interrupted Demetri, "speak of the devil..." May stuck her tongue out at Demetri as she walked to the front door and went to greet Ramona and Kieran.

"Well I better be going in that case," Emmett announced as he stood up and made his way towards the back door, "thank you very much for tonight's entertainment, it was...enthralling, to say the least."

"Hold up, I'll walk with you." I called out after him.

"You're going out?" May asked, "When will you be back?"

"I don't know, tomorrow perhaps." I muttered.

"What? This is exactly what I was talking about," Eleanor snapped "why don't you just go marry the guy?"

Ignoring Eleanor's last remark, I followed after Emmett as he walked into the surrounding forest. I spotted him a couple of metres ahead of me, walking slowly through the trees. I crept up behind him and kissed him softly on his neck, "You didn't think you could get away that easily did you?" I whispered into his ear.

"Of course not," he chuckled, "I was betting on you following me out."

I moved beside him as he entwined our fingers together. "Is that so?"

"Mhm, there are certain matters that need to be resolved." He stated matter-of-factly as we continued walking.

"Oh really? What sort of matters?"

"Well, my bed has been quite lonely lately."

"I'm sure we can fix that," I smiled. "Anything else?"

His lip twitched slightly, "Yes, but nothing you need to worry about just yet."

"Well in that case, shouldn't we be on our way to solve that first problem of yours?" I suggested.

Emmett suddenly sped off further into the depths of the forest, moving closer to the Cullen house. "Race you there!" He called behind himself. I sprinted off after him, following his scent as it twisted between the trees. Within a few seconds we were neck and neck, the creek flowing around the Cullen house was coming up straight ahead of us, Emmett casually leaped over it, whereas I added a flip mid-air, landing in a low crouch on the other side.

"Jerk" I smiled. Emmett was already standing –a large smirk on his face– on the wooden porch surrounding the house; he held the door open in a very gentlemanly fashion, allowing me to walk in ahead of him. "Where's the rest of your family?" I wondered, for the house quiet and oddly desolate.

"Uh, they're all out, stuff to do, people to see, you know?"

"At 3 o'clock in the morning?" I asked sceptically.

"Yep," Emmett smiled mischievously, "so that means we've got the house to ourselves, to do (he pulled me closer) whatever we like." He brushed his lips against mine, kissing them gently at first, but quickly becoming more urgent. His hand slid slowly down my back, stopping just above my thigh. I threaded my hands through his curly hair as he lifted me up, allowing me to wrap my legs around his waist.

He moved over to the elaborate staircase, carrying me up at a slow, human pace; his hands remained on my thighs supporting me up and his lips growing hungrier each step we came nearer to his bedroom. Once we reached his bedroom on the second floor landing, Emmett pushed through the doorway, skilfully knocking down a display cabinet and pushing a large, body-shaped dent in the wall in the process.

"Smooth," I commented as he lay me down on the soft bed covers, his body barely inches above my own.

Emmett – who'd now moved on with kisses trailing down my neck – laughed. "Darling, I'm smooth all over."

"I know that." My hand streaked down across his chest, feeling each chiselled muscle. I caught hold of the hem along the bottom of his shirt, and tugging, pulled it up over his head, revealing his bare and nicely toned abdomen. "Mhm, very smooth indeed."

Emmett smiled, I could feel his strong hands finding their way through the small gap between the bed and the small arch in my back – and pulling forward, tilted my body closer to his. He turned quickly, pulling me with him. Emmett now lay beneath me; one hand gently cupped my face while the other slithered up my waist pulling my shirt up along with it; in a swift movement, he had it off in one second and my jeans in two.

Emmett had stopped with his gallant caresses and was instead staring at me. His eyes drew all over my body, as if he were seeing me for the first time. "See anything you like?" I teased.

"Everything," he murmured, "everything and so much more." Emmett brought his lips upon mine again, now more passionately than ever. His fingers danced across every inch of my skin and tangled in my hair.

"Lillian..." His soft voice like velvet. "Lillian-" he whispered again, now next to my ear. "Lillian," he breathed, "_Marry me_."


End file.
